


X-Men: Winchester Class

by hunters_retreat



Category: Supernatural, Supernatural/X-men, X-Men
Genre: AU, Bobby Singer and Charles Xavier are long time friends, Charles picks up strays, Crossover, Dean Has Powers, M/M, Sam Has Powers, Sam still goes to Stanford, underage UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 23:22:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4806101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Winchester left a huge whole in his boy's lives when he died and Bobby Singer had no idea how to fill it.  The boys were too young to be on their own though so he did the only thing he knew to do; he had Dean follow him home in the Impala with Sam in tow.  He meant to keep an eye on the boys and keep them safe, but nothing is what it seems and when Sam starts having nightmares it means more than just sleepless nights.  With no one else to turn to, Bobby calls on an old friend to help him.  After all,Charles Xavier has been in the business of helping the outcasts of the world since Bobby met him.</p><p>Sam and Dean go to Xavier's School for the Gifted but when school is out and Sam has his sights set on Stanford, all hell begins to break loose.  Literally, because a mutant has found out about the demons and Magneto wants to be the one pulling the strings behind the boy who could be the king of Hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	X-Men: Winchester Class

**Author's Note:**

> And here is the [Art Post ](http://forhimxx.livejournal.com/11088.html) for the amazing art done by 2blueshoes.

 

 

 

  
   

 

 

Bobby Singer stared at the two boys sitting in his back yard.  The youngest was only twelve, scrawny and gangly and trying to grow into his body.  The eldest hovered protectively, sixteen but his whole world revolved around his family and his brother was all he had left in the world.  Bobby needed to open the back door, step out and try to talk to them but he didn't know how.  What they'd seen, what they'd been through in their short lives was already too much.  There was no comfort in the words he had to offer.  The youngest hung his head on his hands, elbows perched on his knees.  Bobby knew what they needed then as he watched Dean draped an arm over Sam's shoulder and pulled him close in the only comfort the boy was like to accept.  They needed time, a little space to be boys, and someplace to feel safe.  Bobby couldn't do much else to help the Winchester brothers through the loss of their father but he could give them a place to call home.  
  


 

"No!"  
  
Bobby jumped awake as the scream ripped through the silence of the night.  Sam had been having nightmares since he'd moved into the upstairs bedroom two months before so Bobby didn’t need to wonder why the kid was screaming.  He didn't think twice about getting out of bed to check down the hallway though he already knew what he’d find.  He wasn't to the door before he heard the soft murmur of voices.  
  
"Hey, come on Sammy.  It’s alright."  
  
"Why won't it stop, Dean?"  
  
Bobby was sure Dean had been asleep downstairs in front of the TV when Bobby went up to bed but Bobby never had been able to beat Dean to his brother, even though he tried.  No matter how Dean wanted to care for Sam, Bobby was afraid Dean was burying his grief in Sam's, not dealing with the loss but repressing it to take care of Sam.  Dean shouldn’t have to shoulder that kind of responsibility but that argument went just as well with Dean as it had his father.  
  
"Was it the same thing?" Dean asked softly.  It was too soft for the gruff boy Dean was and while Bobby had been ready to head back to the comfort of his bed, he felt the need to see if his fears were correct.  He had plenty about the Winchester boys, had since John showed up the first time with two half starved, frightened boys in tow, but John and his death had become taboo topics in the house and Bobby needed to know how they boys were really coping.  If Dean were talking to Sam about his grief it would ease some of Bobby’s worries.  
  
"No, it was a new one.  Different people.  There was a guy, maybe in his thirties, walking through a park.  Someone stepped out from behind a tree and startled him,” Sam said, his voice halting as he looked for the words.  “The guy smiled and moved next to the runner.  He touched the runner’s chest and electricity flared from his fingers.  The runner stumbled to the ground and his heart stopped.  When people found him, the other guy was long gone but the runner was dead."  
  
"You’re sure it was real Sam?  It could just be a nightmare."  
  
"It’s just like the others, Dean.  You know they were all true. You did the research yourself."  
  
"I know Sam.  I just... we'll figure something out.  Maybe Bobby-"  
  
"No!  You can't tell him Dean.  You don't know what he'll do." Sam’s voice was too small and scared for the rambunctious boy Sam had always been.  
  
"Sammy..."  
  
"Dad looked at me funny for a month when he found out."  
  
"He was just surprised."  
  
"No, he was trying to decide if he should hunt me."  
  
Bobby knew the sigh that followed and it was the sound of Dean beating his head against the wall that was his brother's stubborn streak.  At least that was something Bobby was used to.  Talk of prophetic dreams in the Winchester family was something new and Bobby cursed John's hide again.  As often as he'd kept the boys close when John needed to leave them someplace safe, John had never mentioned this and the secret was obviously a sore spot for the youngest.  Dean was handling Sam like a pro though and Bobby knew to leave the youngest Winchester in better hands then his, at least until morning when he could corner Dean and figure out the whole mess.  
  
Bobby leaned in closer to get a single peek in the door.  He wasn't trying to intrude but he needed to see that the boys were alright.  What he found was Sam wrapped up protectively in his brother's arms and Dean staring straight back at him.  Dean’s eyes were hard and for a brief moment Bobby thought of the few hunters who knew the Winchester boys, the ones who said John was raising the best damn hunter they'd ever seen - or a serial killer if something ever happened to his family.  He wasn’t afraid of Dean though he figured another man standing in his place would be.  If Bobby had a single thought in his head about harming Sam, maybe he would be too, but Bobby just nodded his head, giving Dean a slight, tight smile that was received with the barest relaxing of Dean’s shoulders.  
  
Message sent and received, Bobby was never happier than when he turned his back to the room and carefully made his way back to his own bed.  He wouldn’t find sleep soon, but there were a good dozen books in his room that might have some information on psychics and if Sam was suddenly prescient he could do some research.  
  
And if all else failed, he had an old friend to call, one who was probably sitting in his own study, half a continent away, and watching out his window in the damn chair he’d never leave.  
  
  


 

  
The morning dawned too early for Dean Winchester.  He hadn’t slept a night through since his father’s death but two months and Dean was already finding the space his father had taken up was being filled in with everyday life.  Some days he felt like running just to break the monotony that was surrounding him.  Every time he thought about fleeing though, Sam was right there, staring up at him with knowing eyes.  
Bobby had been good to them, helping them through their father’s death and giving them a place to stay.  He gave Dean plenty of space which helped keep him from just taking off.  He had the Impala and Bobby knew if Dean took off, Sam would be in the passenger seat, but Bobby didn’t press him to be someone he wasn’t and he didn’t mess with Sam too much either.  He kept an eye on Sam, made sure he was eating alright but he left Dean to take care of everything else which was just the way Dean preferred it.  
  
Last night had been a hell of a nightmare for Sam and Bobby had just walked away.  Dean knew Bobby wouldn’t hurt Sam.  Dean would never have given away his little brother’s secret though, not when he’d promised to keep quiet so he was grateful that Bobby had overheard them.  Even if he was dreading the conversation he knew they’d have to have this morning.  
  
Dean pulled away from Sam, careful not to wake him up.  It’d taken an hour to get Sam back to sleep after his nightmare and Dean didn’t want to deal with a cranky Sam on top of the pissed off version he was gonna get when Sam got up and realized that Bobby and Dean were talking about him.  
  
Sam burrowed into Dean’s pillow as Dean escaped his brother’s arms.  He only allowed a quick look down at Sam before he turned away.  He already knew he was too skinny and that there were dark rings under Sam’s eyes.  Dean didn’t need a mirror to know he didn’t look much different either.  Neither of them had an appetite or got much sleep lately.  
  
Dean grabbed his clothes and headed across the hall to get a quick shower.  He was heading down the stairs a few minutes later, dressed and ready to find something to coax Sam into eating when he woke.  He knew Bobby was downstairs; he’d heard him moving around as soon as he woke up.  As much as he’d like to put this talk off a while longer, he didn’t want Sam walking into the middle of the conversation either.  
“Morning Bobby,” Dean said as he walked into the kitchen and went straight to the counter where a mug was already sitting out for him.  He poured a cup of coffee and took a quick sip.  
  
“Morning Dean.  Surprised you made it out of bed before noon as late as you boys were up.”  
  
Dean shrugged.  He didn’t need to tell Bobby that he wasn’t sleeping much.  Bobby didn’t push on those matters but Dean wasn’t stupid enough to think he wasn’t aware.  “Surprised you don’t kick us out with all the late night noise we keep making.”  
  
Bobby shook his head.  “Just means you’re an idjit for thinkin’ it.”  Bobby sat down at the table and Dean followed his example.  “So, you gonna tell me what I walked into last night?”  
  
Dean sighed before he took a long drink of coffee.  He wasn’t stalling really; he just needed a moment to put his thoughts into word.  He wasn’t usually the type to analyze what he was saying – that was Sam’s deal, not his – but this was too important to mess up.  
  
“About six months ago Sam started having nightmares.  Bad ones.  You’ve seen how he wakes up.  At first he didn’t remember anything, just woke up really upset.”  Upset didn’t really describe Sam’s condition in the beginning but Dean didn’t have the heart to talk about the gut wrenching sobbing or the way he’d begged Dean to make the visions stop.  
  
“The nightmares didn’t come every night and I figured it was just because we were starting to include Sam more in the hunts.  Can’t say I didn’t have a few nightmares about it myself,” Dean admitted.  “Then one day Sam was looking through one of the national newspapers and he went all pale and shaky.  There was a big murder trial being covered and Sam had seen the guy’s death in his nightmares.  So I started researching.  The more I got Sam to talk about what he saw, the more he remembered the next time so we were able to find some of the people from Sam’s dreams.  He’s seeing their deaths at the moment they happen.  We can’t stop them, can’t warn them.  He just has to witness their deaths.”  
  
Bobby sat silently staring at Dean for a few minutes before he dropped his eyes and Dean could see him rooting through his brain for the archaic knowledge that he’d gained over a lifetime of hunting.  
  
“What did your Daddy think?” he finally asked.  
  
“He was still looking into it.”  
  
“Four months and John didn’t have any clue what was happening to Sam?” Bobby sounded incredulous and Dean took a deep breath.  
  
“Dad didn’t know that long before …” Dean cleared his throat because he still couldn’t talk about his father’s death.  “Dad was away hunting when the nightmares started and I was trying to take care of it.  I told him about a month … Sam had been having visions for about three months before Dad knew. I know I messed up not telling Dad earlier, but you know how Sam is.  He’s always been too sensitive to Dad’s criticism.  He was afraid of Dad and I couldn’t tell him, not until I knew I’d exhausted all my resources.  I would have come to you but Sam thought you’d tell Dad no matter what you promised so we were trying to figure it out on our own.  Dad … he had some theories but nothing solid to go on yet.”  
  
“What theories?”  
  
Dean swallowed against a lump in his throat.  “Bobby…”  
  
“I ain’t tossing you to the road Dean, no matter what you say so just spit it out so we can deal with it.”  
  
“Demons,” Dean whispered.  
  
Bobby watched Dean for a moment before he nodded.  “Your daddy sure as hell seems to have messed up something they were working on.  Never thought you and Sam would get caught up in it though.  Hell, I always hoped …”  
  
“What?” Dean asked.  
  
“I knew you’d never leave hunting, not the way John raised you, but I had hopes Sam would be able to get out of it.”  
  
Dean let out a little snort at the idea of Sam wanting a different life.  Sam who got pissy with Dean if he left without telling him where he was going, who told Dean off if he was late to pick him up from school.  
  
“Sam isn’t going anywhere Bobby.  I think if you tried to drag him away he’d just find his way right back into the thick of things.  He’s a hunter Bobby, much as he hates this life sometimes, he knows he’s a hunter.”  
  
Bobby looked skeptical but Dean just drank his coffee.  After a few minutes Bobby pushed away from the table. “Alright then.  Looks like we got some research to do then.”  
  
“You’ll help us?”  
  
Dean felt his gut turn as Bobby scowled.  “What the hell you think I’ve been doing the last two months, idjit?  Fattening you up to send you into the frying pan?  Go wake your brother up and let’s get started.”  
  
Dean wasn’t looking forward to waking Sam and telling him that Bobby knew about their secret but for the first time in six months Dean felt like maybe they’d get a handle on this thing.  With Bobby helping them, Dean thought just maybe they might help Sam get rid of these nightmares once and for all.  
  


 

  
“He’s getting sick and I don’t know what else to do,” Bobby said on the phone, grateful for the friend he had on the other end of the line.  They didn’t talk often and Bobby had never come to him about something like this, but their long unusual friendship overcame any fears Bobby had about the call.  
  
“It’s not exactly your thing but it’s not mine either.”  
  
“We’ll come,” the man on the other end said and Bobby felt himself breathe easier.  “But you had better get some tea.  I don’t think I can stomach the brew you call coffee.”  
  
Bobby laughed as the line went dead, jumping a second later as a hand landed on his shoulder.  
  
“What the hell was that Bobby?”  
  
Dean was glaring and Sam was standing behind his older brother looking scared but determined.  
  
“Look, you two trusted me to help you.”  That was a stretch since Bobby had learned about Sam’s secret by accident but he knew Sam and Dean trusted him as well as they could trust anyone that didn’t claim the name Sam or Dean.  “Look at your brother, Dean.  Sam’s getting worn down by what he’s seeing.  What we’ve learned,” Bobby let out a resigned sigh.  “Boys, we can’t undo this.  I won’t give up researching but I think we need to try something else.”  
  
“Like what?” Dean asked, his arms crossed over his chest, imitating his daddy at his most intimidating.  
  
“I have a friend who may be able to teach Sam to control it.  It ain’t perfect, but it’s better than watching the two of you on the verge of collapse.  At least until we can find a way to stop it, this is our best option.”  
  
Bobby had been hoping that including Dean’s exhaustion as well as Sam’s would make the younger boy see how important it was to both of them and it paid off.  Sam looked up to his brother and then back to Bobby.  “What do I have to do?”  
  
“They’re coming here to meet the two of you.  Charles has a school where he helps… people with different abilities.”  
  
“Like people with disabilities?” Dean asked.  
  
“No, people with abilities that only science fiction can explain.”  
  
Dean looked back at Sam and the younger boy put on a brave face for his brother.  Bobby could see the way Sam was trying to manipulate his brother, the grip of his hand on Dean’s forearm, the big eyes and hopeful smile.  Bobby didn’t think for one minute it was for Sam though.  The boy had taken Bobby’s notice and come to his own conclusions about what his sleepless nights and grief were doing to his brother.  
  
Dean let out a heavy breath.  “Alright, we’ll meet with them.  But were not guaranteeing anything.”  
  
“Course not,” Bobby added, giving them both a small smile.  “Charles is looking forward to meeting the both of you.  His school is in Massachusetts and I let him know if Sam was going to go with him, he’d have to take you as well Dean.”  
  
“So, we outstayed our welcome then?”  
  
Sam tapped Dean on the back of the head just as Bobby said “Idjit.”  Sam shook his head and Bobby reeled back his need to throttle John over the abandonment issues he’d left his boys with.  “Didn’t say I wouldn’t be seeing you to that school myself if it comes to it.  You boys always have a home here, no matter what happens, but this place that Charles built is a good school and they can teach Sam how to deal with this before it gets worse.   I can’t do that here.”  
  
“Thank you Bobby,” Sam said with a small smile.  
  
“It ain’t much, but I’m trying to do right by you two boys.”  
  
“We know Bobby,” Dean cut in.  “We do know.”  
  
When they walked out together, Bobby felt his knees weaken.  He walked around his desk and took a seat, pulling out an old bottle of scotch.  He didn’t bother getting a glass but took a long pull straight from the bottle.  It burned on the way down but it was a mite better than the way his throat was trying to seize up on him on its own.  Damn those Winchester boys.  Bobby would face down the nastiest creatures on earth to keep them out of harm’s way but Bobby couldn’t kid himself about the facts.  Whatever was coming, whenever it came, it would hunt out the Winchesters with a vengeance and nothing Bobby could do was gonna change that.  
  
He took another sip, tipping it up silently in a salute to John fucking Winchester, and vowed to keep his boys safe, no matter what it took.  
  


 

  
Dean watched the new arrivals with a quiet glower.  Bobby was his usual gruff self and Sam was all polite smiles though Dean knew just how nervous his little brother was.  
  
“You must be Dean,” the professor said as he wheeled into Bobby’s study.  It was more than just an eye opener when he’d watched the professor’s chair being lift off the ground on its own and pass Bobby’s steps into the doorway, and Dean felt a fair level of mistrust was warranted at the moment.  Whoever the bald headed professor was he had a friendly smile though and Dean knew Sam was already falling for his gentility.  
  
Dean gave a short nod of his head.  “Must be.  And you’re what?  The ring leader of this crazy circus?”  
  
“Dean!” Bobby called him sharply but the man before him just smiled.  
  
“No, it’s alright Robert.  Dean has no reason to see us as anything other than a threat.  In time I’m certain we can allay your fears, Mr. Winchester.”  
  
Dean squirmed at the title but he didn’t say anything.  Instead the man and woman who’d come with the professor came in.  The woman looked like a secretary – one Dean would be more than willing to play the big boss with -  but the guy with them dressed in jeans and a tee shirt and wore sunglasses even inside.  Considering the woman could apparently move things with her mind, Dean didn’t say anything about the glasses.  
  
“Robert, I don’t think you’ve had the chance to meet in person.  This is Jean Grey and Scott Summers.”  
  
Bobby came forward with a smile on his face as he offered a hand to the man.  “Good to finally meet you, Scott.”  
  
“Likewise Bobby.”  
  
When the woman, Jean, stepped forward she laughed as she wrapped her arms around Bobby in a quick embrace.  “You look just like the grumpy old man I expected.”  
  
“Grumpy my ass,” Bobby said fondly to her.  “It’s putting up with your professor that does that to me.”  
  
Jean smiled as she stepped back behind the professor.  “Sam, Robert tells me you’ve been having extraordinary dreams.”  
  
“Nightmares,” Dean corrected before Sam could say anything.  He didn’t like that they were talking to Sam like that, like they had a right to him.  
  
The professor watched Dean for a second before nodding.  His gaze flickered to Sam and Dean followed the look.  When Sam looked up at Dean, he could tell his brother was relieved that Dean was willing to take the questions.  
  
When the professor started talking again, Dean let out a small sigh when he realized the man was talking to him again.  “Nightmares.  As  
Bobby explained it they weren’t really nightmares though.  Would you tell us more?”  
  
“They started about six months ago.  We lived… we lived a hard life,” Dean said quietly.  He didn’t know what Bobby had told them about hunting and he didn’t want to assume anything.  “At first I thought the nightmares were just a response to that.  We lived in some pretty crappy neighborhoods and we moved around a lot.  Being the new kid in every town you tend to get picked on a lot.”  
  
“Both of you?” the professor asked.  
  
Dean gave him his best smirk.  “Not really my issue.  Not Sammy’s either once kids knew he was my little brother.  We take care of each other.”  The professor nodded but didn’t say anything else so Dean continued on.  “We were looking through newspapers one day though and Sam saw an article on a man from one of his nightmares.  Turns out Sam witnessed his death, except Sam was in bed two states over when it happened.  I started researching then and we knew Sam was having visions of the deaths.”  
  
“And you have no idea why it started or what triggered Sam’s visions?”  
  
Dean shook his head and Bobby put a hand on his shoulder, looking at Charles.  “I’ve been through every one of my books and checked discretely with all my hunting contacts.  We’ve got nothing here that matches.  We do know that John, their father, feared demons might be involved.”  
  
“Is it possible?”  
  
Bobby sighed.  “I got no idea.  John’s wife was killed by a demon and John had been hunting it ever since.  He kept whatever he found close to the chest though and he took his theory with him to the grave.”  
  
The professor nodded before looking at Sam and Dean again.  “Sam, I think we can help you learn to control this ability but you have to come willingly.  Robert can’t make you come and neither can Dean.  Are you willing to come with us?”  
  
Dean bristled a little at being left out of it, but Sam’s hand on his arm stopped his complaint before it could form.  “I’m willing.”  
  
Charles smiled at them and nodded.  “We’ll set up a visit then so you can come and see exactly what it is you’ll be doing.”  Charles seemed to be finished with them then because he turned to Bobby.  “You’ll have their transcripts sent to me immediately, of course,” he said as he nodded towards Bobby’s desk, “and I believe you had something else for me to take a look at.”  
  
It was obvious they’d been dismissed and Dean walked Sam out of the room and through the back of the house, straight to the beat up truck where they’d spent hours talking or just avoiding shit together.  
  
“You okay Sam?” Dean asked.  
  
Sam nodded.  “Yeah.  I think , I don’t know Dean.  I feel like they can help me.  For the first time since the nightmares started I think they can help me get rid of them.”  
  
Dean nodded, ignoring the hollow feeling he got whenever he failed Sam like that.  “Might be interesting though,” Sam continued on, “being at a school with them.  Being at a school for more than a few months at a time.”  
  
“You’ll be able to get your geek on, Sam,” Dean said with a small smile.  
  
Sam returned the smile, though it still wasn’t the same as it’d once been.  Things had changed since Dad had died.  Sam wasn’t as snarky and pig-headed as he had been and Dean did his best to stay close to his brother.  All the running around he’d been doing that had annoyed the hell out of Sam had ended when Sam became his responsibility.  There was no Dad there anymore to make sure Sam was okay when Dean was out so he made sure he was there all the time.  Bobby had tried to get him to go out a few times, meet kids his own age but Dean had never been much for hanging out with his peers.  Not when they were so damn ignorant of what was really important.  
  
“You’ll be there too right?”  
  
Dean smiled.  “Can’t stop me.  I might not fit into your fancy school but I’m not leaving you, Sammy.  Not ever.”  
  
Sam laughed then and it was clear and happy and Dean couldn’t help but smile.  When Sam pulled closer to him, Dean wrapped his brother in his arms and held on just to enjoy the feeling of Sam, safe and happy.  
  


 

  
"What is it you really want me to do Robert?"  
  
Bobby Singer stared past the man in front of him to look out at the grounds of the Xavier Institute.  He'd known the question was coming even if he was still unprepared for it.  Charles had brought Sam to the school but neither man had talked about what they could do for him.  
  
"They need help.  This isn't about hunting.  Hell, if it was just about giving them a home I wouldn't be here.  We'd be in South Dakota where I could keep an eye on them and make sure they were getting to live the life they deserve.  It ain't that simple though Charles."  
  
"It rarely is," the man said, drawing Bobby's attention away from the two boys that were out in the grass, facing off against a group of Charles's students.  "They aren't like the others though.  Evolution didn't make these boys different."  
  
"Doesn't mean they don't need a home though.  Doesn't mean they don't need trained.  The things Sam can see..."  
  
"The things they can both do."  
  
Bobby was startled by the other man’s words but Charles was looking out at the grassy field again. Bobby focused his attention there are watched the way Sam held his opponent at bay as Dean dropped another to the ground.  
  
"Sam doesn’t realize he has abilities beyond his prescience but we have noticed a few things as he settled in this week.  And his brother doesn't realize he even has abilities yet but he wasn't untouched by the demon.  The same blood runs through his veins Robert and only in the darkest recess of his mind does he remember giving permission for it."  
  
"What? Dean would never-"  
  
"A four year old boy can be enticed to do many things, especially if he is told it will make him strong enough to protect his family and that it will allow him to stay with his little brother forever."  
  
"Jesus," Bobby whispered.  
  
"It happened a few times before their mother wandered in.  That particular night, Dean had already been sent away by the demon.  He doesn't remember it but it is still there in the back of his mind, feeding his guilt and his need to protect his family."  
  
"How did you find out?"  
  
Charles sighed.  "I looked into his mind as he slept last night.  What you're asking me to do has severe consequences and I needed to know who these boys truly were."  
  
"There is no one more loyal than Dean. The boy would step in front of a bullet for you if you gained his loyalty and Sam?  The boy is smart and strong and thinks circles around anyone I've ever met."  
  
Charles smiled at him and Bobby looked down at the other man.  It'd been a long time since Bobby had met Charles, a time before the other man had sat in a wheelchair and Bobby owed him his life.  If there was anyone he trusted with the Winchester brothers it was Charles.  He wouldn't see the demon blood as a threat the way the hunting community would.  He'd teach the boys to use their strengths while making sure they received a real education as well.  He's give them the chance at a real life.  
  
If he could just convince Charles that they belonged.  
  
"You don't have to sell them to me Bobby.  If I knew nothing else of them, your dedication to them would be enough.  I think, however, that you were right to bring them here.  They will be assets to the school and I think in time they will even realize it."  
  
Bobby frowned but he couldn't argue with Charles on that observation.  Sam and Dean were smart boys and two fine hunters even if they were still both too young to be hunting, but John Winchester had left a string of issues tight enough to hang them both with.  Bobby just hoped he handled this right or he'd be adding to the hefty weight of abandonment that already choked Dean.  
  
"You want me to hang around a few days?  Make sure they're adjusting okay?"  
  
Charles smiled at him again, though it was a fond smile.  He had no doubt the other man had seen straight through his words and knew how worried he was about just up and leaving the boys.  
  
"I've heard some rumblings lately about strange occurrences in the surrounding area.  I was going to pass the news along when we next spoke.  I imagine there are a few hunts that could use your attention while you're here."  
  
Bobby smiled then, feeling himself relax for the first time since his arrival.  "Don't suppose Logan would be interested in getting off campus for a bit?"  
  
Charles let out a small laugh.  "I fear what he might do to your car if you tried to leave without him.  Though he does seem to be taken with the eldest brother."  
  
Through the window Bobby could see Logan clap Dean on the shoulder.  Sam was talking to Scott Summers and Bobby Drake was looking between the brothers like they were something new and miraculous the school had sent his way.  
  
"Looks like they'll fit in just fine," Bobby said.  
  
Charles was looking out the window and it was only their longtime acquaintance that let Bobby see the misgivings that flashed momentarily over the professor's face.  It was just a small moment but Bobby could see the trappings of fear.  Charles was a fighter though and if anyone could keep the Winchester brothers safe it was him.  
  
Now, he just had to figure out how to break the news to Dean and Sam.

 

   

 

 

 

 Dean wasn't sure how to feel as he settled into the plush leather couch of Professor Charles Xavier's living quarters.  They'd just had a private dinner with him; he, Sam and Bobby.  Dean knew the meal was meant to relax him and put him at ease but there were plenty of people in Dean’s life that had tried to ease him before they tried to take his brother from him.  
  
Dean knew that was what it was all about.  Sam was the special one; gifted in plenty of ways while Dean was just a dumb kid who did his best to help his Dad out and look after his little brother.  He'd already failed his father.  He wasn't about to let anyone take Sam from him, no matter how nice the place was or who they knew.  He felt his brothers fingers tap against his knee as he sat beside him and when Dean looked up he knew he had at least one ally in that.  Anyone that tried to separate Sam from Dean would find themselves fighting the both of them.  
  
"We aren't trying to separate you, Dean," the professor said as he wheeled himself into the room.  
  
"I thought you didn't read people's minds all the time?" Dean accused.  
  
The professor smiled.  "I don't.  You're practically screaming it at me, the both of you and I thought I would reassure you.  This was not some grand last supper.  It was merely a chance for me to get to know our newest pupils before you begin class."  
  
"Pupils?  You mean you're keeping both of us?"  
  
Dean knew the tone of Sam's voice and he tried to harden himself to the hope he heard there.  Nothing good ever happened to the Winchesters and Dean didn't believe this was the exception. No matter that Bobby and Sam both seemed to think it was.  
  
"Neither of you have completed a full course of education yet and while you will study for your high school level exams, you will also be given the time and special instruction to learn to deal with your abilities as they manifest themselves."  
  
"So Sam gets to learn to be more of a freak and I get to twiddle my thumbs. Awesome."  
"Dean-"  
Dean knew Bobby's tone as well and if Dean weren't looking for the hidden down side he's have been slightly ashamed of having put that disappointment in Bobby's voice.  
"No Dean, you will not be twiddling your own thumbs.  You too have abilities that have begun to manifest."  
"That's a joke, right?"  
  
Charles Xavier looked over at Bobby.  Bobby just shook his head.  "I'm with the kid.  I ain't seen nothing that makes me think he belongs here, except his need to keep an eye on Sam."  
  
Xavier looked at Dean, then to Sam.  "What do you think, Sam?  You know Dean better than anyone."  
  
Dean wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it but Sam was looking down at his hands instead of laughing it off with Dean.  "Sammy?"  
  
When Sam looked up he avoided Dean's eyes and looked up at the professor.  "He has this ability to  ... I don't know  ... Like he knows how things will move before they do it.  It's not just quick reflexes.  Three months ago he sliced a ghost with an iron poker right before it could get to me.  The thing is, the ghost wasn't there before Dean started swinging."  
  
"That wasn't anything," Dean defended his actions.  "It made sense that it would go for you.  I just knew it was coming so I swung."  
  
It made perfect sense.  Just like the time last year that he'd shot the ghoul before he'd seen it coming up behind their Dad.  Just like that time with the raw head and how he'd been able to feel the way the air had been disturbed by its presence before it'd attacked.  That was just Dean putting his hunting skills to good use.  Bobby was looking at him like he was seeing something different though and Sam had a smug little smile on his lips even if he refused to look at Dean.  When Dean looked at the Professor the man was watching him intently.  
  
"There are a number of incidents that you've convinced yourself were simply good timing or better luck, but it is a manifestation of power.  I sense more to it than that though.  There are other paths of power in your grasp but you have found your own way to anchor them so that they didn't interfere with your mission and your family.  You have a strong will, Dean, to be able to do so.  And a stronger survival instinct than most to be able to hide it from yourself so completely."  
"I have no idea what you're talking about."  
  
"I know.  And that is why you will be here with Sam, learning to open these abilities and to control them consciously.  Dean and Sam Winchester, welcome to the Xavier Institute."  


 

It didn't happen the way Dean thought it would.  Sure he knew that Sam would geek out and become an instant teacher’s pet.  Yeah he knew he'd have to sit through some boring classes - though Dean found most of his classes pretty engaging.  The school staff didn't let him fake stupidity and they made him take part which was kind of cool and a lot uncomfortable since Sam was supposed to be the only geek in the family.   He thought they'd start pushing him to learn his supposed powers though but so far there was nothing.  
  
He got up, went to breakfast with the other students, had class, managed to get a few other students and instructors to spar with him in the afternoon, and he had free time in the evenings to work on the Impala or just hang out like a normal kid.  
  
Only Dean wasn't a normal kid and his free time became research.  No one said anything about the demon that had killed their mom or that had fed Sam demon blood but if that was what made Sam different then it had happened to Dean too.  
  
Hell, the only reason they knew about the demon blood at all was because of some witch who'd come looking for them the week after their dad had died.  Dean ignored the pain that came from thoughts of his father.  Dean didn't always agree with what he'd done - and God knew there were times that Dean had been forced to make some tough choices while his dad was away on a hunt - but he'd loved him and he felt bereft without his guidance now.  
  
All he had was his research though.  He knew Xavier would do everything in his power to keep Sam safe, but the monsters in his world were still just human.  They weren't the demons and creatures that Dean had grown up with.  
  
He had to be at the top of his game.  Thankfully Bobby was still in the area.  He came in every couple of nights, had dinner with Sam and Dean, then headed out for a new hunt the next day or so.  Dean knew he was staying close for them and he appreciated the gesture.  He also appreciated the little bit of normalcy it gave him, to be helping Bobby do research around his own hunt for the demon.  
  
"Hey Dean," Bobby said, coming into the library table that Dean preferred.  Professor Xavier was with him and Dean smiled at them both.  
  
"Evening. I thought you'd be another couple days out on that last one." Dean said to Bobby.  
  
"Jim Murphy beat me there," Bobby said with a smile.  "Where is that brother of yours?  Figured I'd find him buried in a book."  
  
Dean nodded.  "He is.  Try the south lawn.  He's under that big tree with a flashlight in his mouth to read by."  
  
Bobby looked at Xavier before sighing what sounded an awful lot like idjit.  
  
"He tell you he was going there?" Bobby asked.  
  
"No, Sam just likes it there for some reason."  Dean didn't understand.  They used the field in the afternoons to spar sometimes but there was no reason Dean could see why that spot was better than any other spot that happened to have good lighting.  
  
"How do you know he's there then?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's come to our attention that you have an uncanny awareness of your brother. No matter where he should be or how spontaneous the change to his schedule, you always know where he is.  How do you explain that?"  Xavier asked.  
  
"I damn near raised the kid.  I just know him.  Know what he's thinking sometimes before he does. And he returns the favor."  
  
“I think it may be more than that, Dean.” Xavier said softly.  
  
Dean really wanted to go wild sometime just to see if he could get Xavier to lose control but he doubted that would ever happen.  “What?  You think being able to locate my little brother is a super power?  That’s got to be the suckiest power ever.”  
  
Bobby took on his exasperated grumpy face but Xavier just smiled.  “If you recall, I said you’d found a way to anchor your abilities so they didn’t affect you.  I believe you focused your abilities completely on Sam.  It allowed you keep a closer eye on your brother and to keep your focus on the hunt.  You effectively made it so that your abilities would only manifest in regard to your brother.”  
  
“So, I’ve got Sam on a ball and chain?”  
  
“You used your abilities to maintain the one order than was reinforced to you time and time again; take care of your little brother.”  
  
Dean wasn’t comfortable with the level of attention the professor was giving his relationship with Sam.  There were plenty of things he didn’t want the others to delve into.  It was too personal, too close and no one had the right to judge them.  It’d happened before.  CPS and a handful of other agencies over the years had tried to pull them apart and looked at them with sharp eyes and quicker conclusions.  
  
“In time, we’ll be able to help you focus your abilities elsewhere.  For now, I think you should continue to worry about your school work though.  Aurora tells me you have a strong grasp of physics and she intends to challenge you.”  
  
“She wasn’t already?”  
  
Xavier just smiled.  “You’ll see in your next class I suppose.  Good evening Dean.”  
  
Bobby followed Xavier out and Dean just let out a deep breath.  He didn’t have super powers, not like they seemed to think.  And he didn’t have an unusual awareness of his brother.  He just knew his brother was … Dean cursed up a flurry as he closed the book he’d been looking through.  His brother was headed to their room now and Dean knew it.  Knew it without a reason behind it.  He just … knew where his brother was.  
  
God damn it.  They were right.  Dean had the suckiest super power ever.  


 

  


It took time but they settled in well enough.  Whenever Dean saw Sam with a group of friends hanging in the school yard or studying together in the library he felt a moment of pride at how his brother had managed to pull himself it of their former lives and adapt to his new circumstances.  Dean felt oddly grateful for his own mismatched circle of friends.  He managed to collect a group of young teachers -when they weren't in class - upperclassmen, and he had a gaggle of young students who followed in his wake like groupies.  He had a hard time dealing with the awe he saw in their eyes but Dean never let anyone think he was something he wasn't.  Wasn't his damn fault that Sam spoke about him the way he did.  
  
In his four years at the Xavier Institute Dean learned to hone his kinetic awareness even further and learned to think more strategically to use his gift.  His awareness of Sam was the same, though the professor still hadn’t given up his hopes of getting Dean to locate something besides his brother.  
The students changed but Dean stayed even after he graduated.  He wasn't a teacher per say but he helped the kids who needed physical combat skills or weapons training.  He had to get creative with some of the training -after all he was teaching kids to shoot fireballs and liquid ice at moving targets or how to use teleportation in a fight - but Dean loved that part and Xavier seemed to think he had a knack for it.  
  
Sam excelled in his studies - no surprise, the brainiac - but he smiled more too and Dean liked seeing his brother get the things he needed out of life.  
  
Bobby was still a large part of their lives though he stopped staying close by after a few months when Dean had let him know they'd get along just fine on their own.  Dean helped him out on hunts occasionally and he and Sam both researched cases between class work and training and having typical teen problems.  
  
Dean didn't handle Sam's first girlfriend any better than Sam handled Dean's first real girlfriend.  Neither lasted long. Who could Dean really attach himself too anyway when he had to look out for Sam, think of Sam first before anything else?  And who could handle the way Sam turned to Dean first before any other?  It was hard enough for their friends to understand and they'd both had more than one conversation with different members of the staff who worried about how tied up they were in each other.  
  
No one understood though and Dean had no real wish to talk to them about hunting and having no one else you could trust or the shtrigas and werewolves that still haunted his nightmares.  
  
"You know it isn't the end of the world, right?"  
  
"You don't know what you're talking about," Dean growled into his coffee.  He'd rather have something stronger but the last time he'd gotten drunk the professor had barred him from drinking on school grounds.  Apparently picking the lock to the pool and swimming naked -while loudly singing Metallica tunes - in front of the north side of the dorms was frowned upon.  
  
Logan snorted as he took a seat across from Dean at the kitchen table.  "You think half the school didn't hear that fight?"  Dean looked up but the normal dour expression on the man’s face had been replaced with concern.  "You really didn't see it coming?  You didn't know that Sam was filling out college applications?"  
  
"Yeah I knew, I just didn't realize he was looking so far away.  What the hell am I supposed to do with that?"  Dean asked.  "How the hell am I supposed to protect him when he's across the country?"  
  
Another snort, but this time there was amusement in Logan's voice.  "You really think Sam needs protecting?"  
  
Dean didn't answer but took another drink.  Sam hadn't just embraced his schooling when they entered Charles Xavier's Institute.  Sam had embraced his powers as well.  No matter what had caused them, Sam had learned to fine tune his abilities just as he had his shooting or his knife work; Dean had made sure Sam kept his hunting skills in shape as well, sparring and drilling him until the others would sometimes try to step in and stop him.  They'd learned quick enough to stay out of the Winchester business though. No matter how much Sam might bitch and moan about training, anyone who stepped between them got an earful about the importance of keeping their edge and about the things that went bump in the night that didn't give a damn about physical pain because they weren't mortal.  
  
Still, Sam in college -away from Dean at all - brought out every overprotective instinct Dean had.  No one understood what they'd lived through and no one knew what Dean had needed to do to protect his little brother before their father had died.  Only Sam understood and he chose to leave, to face Dean down with a list of reasons why it had to be this school.  Sam knew and he'd let Dean yell and pound his fist into the wall until he'd finally lost strength and  fallen right into his brother's waiting embrace, whispers words of it's alright and still need you thrown in with I have to try and come with me.  
  
Dean couldn't and they both knew it.  It had to be Stanford for a lot of reasons but the most important was exactly how far away it was from Dean and the life he'd built with Xavier and the others.  
  


 

  


Dean knew there was trouble brewing - and no, that wasn't a superpower.  He could see the tension in Charles Xavier's shoulders and the line that creased Scott's brow after his closeted meetings with the professor.  There was talk on the news of anti-mutant legislation and all Dean could think was that Sam better be keeping his head down at Stanford.  He knew his brother well enough to know Sam was hiding his abilities but wanting to be normal and actively making sure no one found out were two different things.  Sam wouldn't think twice before he use his powers if it meant saving someone.  
  
These were the hardest times for Dean, when the need to protect his brother tried to overrule his brothers need to keep Dean at a distance.  Dean just hoped the distance did what it was supposed to - give Sam a chance at a life that wasn't wrapped around his big brother, a chance to find joy and comfort in another person besides Dean.  He hoped Sam had managed it because it sure as hell wasn't working for Dean.  Xavier tried to help him get his powers focused on something else because he believed that because Dean had focused his abilities on Sam he wasn’t able to let his brother go.  
  
Logan seemed to be the only one who understood.  Maybe because he was the only one of them who'd lived a soldier’s life and he knew what it was like to trust someone so completely with your life.  Maybe because his relationship with his own brother was as fucked up as Dean's even if it was in a different way.  
  
Dean didn't downplay his feelings for Sam when he talked to either Charles or Logan.  He figured if he was ever gonna let Sam have a normal life then he needed to deal with this and they were the only two people he trusted enough to open up. He trusted Bobby but the man was too much a father to talk about his messed up feelings for Sam with.  Bobby would lay the blame on their father or he'd convince himself that he's been the one to do this to them, letting them rely on one another the way they did after their father’s death.  His feelings were his own though and Dean knew that, just like he knew Sam's were his own.  No one put them there, except maybe a demon but even with the demon blood they'd shared, Dean never blamed that.  
  
What he felt for Sam wasn't some sham of an emotion.  He loved his brother.  He was in love with his brother and had been for longer than he wanted to think about.  Sam felt the same.  It wasn't something they talked about but Dean knew.  It was why Sam was in California and Dean was in Massachusetts with four years between their last visit.  Dean had seen Sam settled into the dorms and said his farewell the next morning at a diner close to campus.  Dean had left Sam in a booth overlooking the parking lot as he drive away his brother had waved, a smile on his tear streaked face.  When Dean pulled out of the parking lot Sam went back to dragging Dean’s left over bacon through the maple syrup on his plate.  It was a small moment, something commonplace, but every day Dean woke to the aching memory of his brother left alone to face the world in an empty booth, as if Sam were still waiting for Dean to come back.  
  
Not that Dean didn't know how Sam was doing.  They spoke on the phone and they emailed back and forth.  A year after Sam went to Stanford Bobby Drake went after him.  They shared an apartment off campus and what Sam didn't tell Dean, Bobby did.  Like Sam didn't mention he was pre-law or about the girl he'd met.  Dean knew it was edging on serious from the way Bobby talked about her but Sam barely mentioned her.  Dean wouldn't even know her name if Bobby didn't talk about her all the time.  She was good for Sam, Bobby said and he'd sent Dean a picture of the two of them.  Jessica was gorgeous but what made Dean like her was the way she looked up at Sam like he was everything.  He could see Sam's smile in the picture, wide open and unguarded as he rarely had been in their childhood.  The photo had a place in Dean’s wallet where he could take it out whenever the need to be with Sam became too much.  He'd look at the photo and remember that Sam had a good life now, one without hunting and the dangers they'd always faced.  One without a brother who was too much of everything to him.  
  
"You talk to Bobby lately?"  Logan asked as he came up alongside Dean on the greens.  A group of first years were learning basic hand combat but Dean liked to keep an eye out for anyone that might be more advanced.  
  
"Last week.  Jessica is trying to talk Sam into having a Halloween party in their apartment and Sam put his foot down.  Bobby's been staying late at the library all week to stay out of the middle of it," Dean said with a shake of his head.  Jessica didn't know about the life they'd led or she'd never ask Sam to do something like that.  
  
"So all is well in play town?"  
  
There was nothing mean in Logan's words but the mutant didn't think anyone could walk away from a life like theirs.  He truly believed that sooner or later it would come back on Sam and Bobby.  The normal life they were leading was just temporary and it would end nasty, maybe even bloody.  Dean wished he didn't agree but he tried hard not to lie to himself.  As much as he wanted Sam to have the safe, normal life he wanted, he'd been given powers for a reason and someday the demon was going to come with the price tag.  
  
"Yep.  Talked to Bobby Singer the other day and he's got nothing eventful to say either.  Just your run of the mill hauntings to deal with."  
  
"You were checking in with him?"  When Dean nodded Logan let out a deep breath.  "Any reason?"  
  
Dean looked at the students in front of him and then back towards the mansion that was now his home.  Funny how his life had changed so completely because of one phone call.  
  
"Something's coming.  I'm not prescient but I can see all the signs.  We're in the quiet before the storm and something big is coming soon."  
  
"Good thing it knows where to find us then," Logan said around the cigar stub in his mouth.  Dean smiled at that.  Anyone that came to them looking for trouble was bound to find more than they meant to.

 

  

 

“Dean, something is terribly wrong.”  
  
Dean stared at the phone for a moment before the words sunk in.  Without thinking he thought of Sam and the image of his brother was inside his head; Sam sitting in his apartment with a goofy smile on his face.  He could see across the table and Bobby Drake was beside him, laughing with a young woman Dean knew was Jess.  There was nothing in Sam or Bobby’s movements or demeanors that showed any concern.  
  
“Sam’s hanging out with Bobby,” Dean said, pulling himself out of his vision and to the professor on the other end of the line.  
  
The professor nodded.  “Something dark is coming, Dean.  You know that Magneto found a way to hide his thoughts from me, but this morning he gave me a small glimpse of what he is planning to do.  I think we need to bring Sam and Bobby home.”  
  
“I’m only a few hours out.  I can pick them up,” Dean offered.  “If you think you can convince Sam of the need.”  
  
The professor sighed over the phone.  “Tell Sam and Bobby that it’s important.  I’m sure you can convince them to come home for a little while.  It’s been two years since Sam last came back to the manor and four since the two of you met face to face.”  
  
“I’ll do my best.”  
  
“I know you will Dean.  Perhaps you can let them know that if they don’t, I’d consider it a personal favor if they could give you and Logan board for a few days until I know Sam and Bobby aren’t in danger.”  
  
Dean laughed because the idea of he and Logan staying in their apartment was sure to send Sam and Bobby packing.  “Call you when I have news,” Dean said before closing his phone.  
  
He looked over at the clock and sighed.  It was afternoon already but he’d been up all night with a hunt and the last thing he wanted to do was get back into the car today.  He’d planned on heading over to the restaurant across the street and seeing if his waitress from the day before was back but it looked like his brother was finding a way to kill his fun, even from a different state.  


 

  
Dean’s foot was heavy on the gas as he drove.  He wasn’t the type to panic, but since he’d hung up the phone he’d had a bad feeling.  Dean could reach out and find his brother at any time but that didn’t give him any indication if Sam was alright or not.  He tried not to reach out too often.  He’d nearly wrapped himself around a pole when he’d tried to find Sam and he was at a park.  For a minute Dean’s mind flashed to all the viscous things they’d hunted over the years before he’d realized Sam was just going for a run.  His paranoia was just in overdrive and he knew it so he stopped checking on his brother.  He didn’t know what the professor had seen but if there had been any immediate danger then Dean would have been told so he held onto that and stopped trying to reach out for his brother.  
  
Instead, Dean turned the music up and kept driving.  The feeling of anxiety didn’t lessen as he crossed the border into California.  It didn’t lessen when he sped through the Palo Alto city line.  It definitely didn’t lessen when he turned down Sam’s street to find smoke pouring out of the building.  He didn’t need to look at numbers to know it was Sam’s building just like he knew it was Sam’s apartment that was on fire.  He knew.  As much as he hated it, he walked on pins and needles and had been for the past twenty two years on this day, waiting for something bad to happen to Sammy.  
  
He barely had the car in park before he ran for the door.  The night was dark around them but the first lick of flames was visible in the window overlooking the street.  Dean threw open the door of the building and didn’t stop to look for apartment letters.  He could feel Sam even if he’d never been there and it was a truer guide than any map.  He ran up the stairs and knocked the front door open, barely noting Bobby groaning on the floor of the living room before he ran towards Sam’s bedroom.  
  
As Dean ran forward he found his brother staring up, transfixed by whatever was happening in his bedroom.  Dean grabbed Sam's arm but the touch seemed to wake something in his brother and he pulled away.  Sam tried to get further into the room but Dean wrapped an arm over Sam's shoulder and another around his waist as he heaved backwards.  He turned as he did, throwing his brother into the hallway behind him.  He looked up then and he understood the horror that had held Sam in place.  On the ceiling was Sam's girlfriend, Jess; the center of the flower of flames spreading across the ceiling and towards the walls.  
  
Flames began to erupt from the center as Sam pushed forward again.  He was behind Dean though and as Sam screamed his girlfriend’s name Dean pushed back against him to keep him out.  The fire swept down then as if it was directed by some unseen hand and Dean thought he heard laughter in the cracklings of the flame but he didn't turn back once he pushed Sam away from the doorframe.  Bobby rushed towards them then and he must have known what was happening because he grabbed Sam and pulled as Dean pushed and they forced Sam out of the apartment.  
  
Sam's face was tear-stained, his face blotchy and red when they reached the impala parked outside.  
  
"You could have stopped the flames!" Sam roared at Bobby.  Dean was between them before Sam could do anything stupid and he'd never been happier about his kinesthetic awareness before.  
  
"Sam," Dean begged with that one word but Sam didn't back down.  He could see the fury in his brother’s eyes and nothing turned Sam from that sort of anger until his brother was good and ready.  
  
"She was already dead Sam."  Bobby's voice sounded as broken as Sam looked.  "She was dead before the fire took her. Putting out the flames would have only drawn the wrong kind of attention here tonight."  
  
"You mean this kind of attention?"  
  
Dean barely had time to intercept the body that was hurled at Bobby.  He was out of breath from the impact of a full grown man plowing into him but he could feel the swirl of cool air leaving goose bumps on his skin as Bobby prepared to strike.  
  
The cold lashed out, a whipcord of water that froze as it formed around the waist of the man who'd barreled into Dean.  
  
"Who the hell are you?"  Bobby demanded.  
  
"Sabretooth," the man said and Dean could see as he looked up that he was a mutant.  In the cold places of the world where beards and facial hair were worn for heat rather than fashion choices he might have gone unnoticed.  He wasn't though and he didn't try to hide it as he opened his hands to release a nasty set of claws.  Elongated canines poked out from a wicked smile and Dean might have been intimidated if he hadn't spent the good part of his life with an even nastier looking mutant. Logan might be a good teacher and a better friend, but Dean never wanted to be on the other man’s bad side. He'd seen just how nasty Logan could get and Sabretooth didn't scare him.  He just needed to get Sam and Bobby away before there could be more trouble.  He had a feeling this particular mutant traveled in a pack.  
  
"What did you do to Jess?" Sam's words were more a demand than question but Dean pushed up off the floor where he'd landed.  He knew what happened to Jess wasn't the mutant’s doing.  There was something else at work here and he realized just how precarious their current position was.  
  
"We need to get out of here," Dean said softly.  
  
"We need answers."  
  
Dean looked at Bobby and saw that the other mutant was going to back Sam up.  He didn't know about their mother though and Dean knew that whatever else was going on, the Yellow-eyed son of a bitch was back in the game again.  This wasn't about mutants.  
  
Dean took two steps forward and shattered the ice rope that tethered Bobby to Sabretooth.  It left the mutant in binds of ice but Bobby could run again and Dean had their attention now.  
  
"That was the demon Sam.  We don't want to be in the open for this.  Get in the car."  
  
"Yes, please run," another voice called from behind them.  
  
Dean turned and it was a familiar face.  One that had disappeared at the same time Sam and Bobby had gone to college.  "Pyro.  Looks like you found some new friends," Dean said as two women stepped out onto the street beside him.  
  
"Callisto and Psylocke," John said with a smirk.  It made Dean want to snap him in two because there was a threat there and it was no secret that John and Bobby had fought as often as they agreed.  
  
"What do you want John?" Bobby asked.  His eyes were on Sabretooth and Dean was glad he'd managed to keep focused on him.  Sam's anger was almost alive but his brother had pulled himself together when faced with a fight and he was watching the area, looking for more enemies and a way out.  
  
"Tell me Bobby, does it feel good to hide who you are?  To pretend you're one of these cavemen time needs to forget?"  
  
"You never did get it John.  We're different, not better, different.  If you'd ever paid attention-"  
  
"No time for a lesson boys," John cut him off.  "This is real simple.  Are you with us or against us?"  
  
Bobby looked over at Dean, a question in his eyes, but Dean didn't know what the kid was talking about.  
  
"With or against who? As far as I can see, you came in attacking so I'm inclined to say against," Dean answered.  
  
"Mutants, you idiots!  I should have known you wouldn't understand.  You aren't like us. You didn't evolve, you were an experiment gone wrong."  
  
Dean understood then and he liked it even less.  There was a lot of talk about mutants and the anti-mutant organizations that were popping up all over the place.  Charles seemed to think they could find a way to deal with it peacefully but Dean didn't have a lot of faith in that. He'd seen how people reacted to the things that went bump in the night and even when they were saving them people never forgave hunters for showing them what was out there.  
  
“Oh, so we’re supposed to sign up for your mutant fight club?” Dean asked.  “Didn’t anyone tell you the first rule of mutant fight club?”  
  
Dean was looking over his shoulder at Bobby as John snorted out a laugh.  
  
“Like you could fight us, Winchester.”  
  
Dean pulled the gun from the base of his back where it’d been hidden since he took to the road.  He didn’t waste time but shot at John before the guy knew what was happening.  It almost hit but the guy pulled his flames up and the bullet melted before it could reach him.  
  
“You don’t talk about mutant fight club.  You just kick the other guy’s ass and move on.”   They were all moving as Dean said it though, Bobby throwing up a shield of ice in front of Sam and Dean to protect them as they ran for the car.  
  
Dean had the engine going before Bobby reached the car, a series of ice walls built with each step.  As the first one started to melt Dean felt pressure building on the ice and he gave a quick glance at Sam to see it was his brother’s work.  As Pyro tried to melt the first wall it burst and the ice became small shards that were projected towards John and his new friends.  
  
It wasn’t a death toll but it was enough to get them on the road and away from the scene before any more mutants could turn up.  Or worse, the cops.  Last thing Sam needed was a mutant number on his registration paperwork.  
  
Ten minutes later there was no sign of pursuit.  Sam was staring silently out the window, tear running down his face as he tried to deal with his girlfriend’s death.  Bobby was muttering under his breath about it all being too easy and Dean was inclined to agree.  
  
Instead of saying anything though, Dean pulled out his phone and dialed.  It answered immediately.  
  
“Dean?”  
  
“Hello Professor.”  
  
“I can feel Sam’s loss from here, Dean.  Please let him know I am so sorry.”  
  
“Yeah,” Dean said, taking a deep breath to stop up his own emotions.  The last thing Sam needed was for Dean to fall apart on him now.  He hated seeing his brother hurt though and four years of separation didn’t change that.  It didn’t change anything, really.  
  
“Get home as quickly as you can,” the professor continued.  “I don’t believe Jess’s death was part of Magneto’s plan but it feels familiar for some reason.  I think it’s even more important now to get all of you to safety.”  
  
“On our way.  I’ll keep you updated on our progress.”  
  
“Please do or I’ll be forced to send Logan after you.”  
  
Dean smiled at the idle threat and he felt a little of the tension leaving his body.  He could handle Sam and his grief.  If there was anything in the world Dean understood it was what made Sam tick.  It was the rest of it that was settling so heavy around him.  He couldn’t focus on the implications of the demon’s move and the mutant attack that followed and thankfully the professor was there to do just that.  
  
“Good night, Professor.”  
                                        

 

                                          
“Take care of them Dean, but take care of yourself too.”

Dean hung up before the professor could say anything else.  He made another quick call to Bobby, letting him know they were safe but he knew his tone and word choice would have the older man calling the professor as soon as he hung up.  Dean wasn’t trying to keep secrets but he didn’t want to talk about it in front of Sam and Bobby yet, not when they’d just lost someone they both clearly cared for.

“A few hours and then we’ll find someplace to sleep, alright?” Dean said to the two of them.  
There were no answers.  Dean didn’t push and when silence filled the impala, Dean filled his head with everything he’d every learned about the Yellow-eyed son of a bitch that was stalking his family.

 

 

  
“You’re all missing the point.”                                                                                                              

Charles Xavier liked to think he was a patient man – a trait he had learned later in life rather than earlier – but some days he felt as if all the patience in the world wasn’t enough to deal with the Winchester family.  He knew his old friend Bobby agreed.

“What exactly is the point then, Dean?” he asked.

They were trying to find something to make sense of what they knew.  Sam was being targeted but they didn’t know why.  Bobby Drake might be a target.  No one understood why Magneto had sent Charles the message he had or why Sam, Dean and Bobby had been able to get away with as little fight as they had.  Dean Winchester had remained quiet during the entire two hour discussion except when they asked him a direct question.

“The Yellow-eyed demon came for my brother.  He tried to take Sammy from me and all this other bullshit is just getting in the way of figuring that out.”

“Dean,” Bobby Singer tried to talk him down but Dean waved him away with his hand.

“No Bobby.  I can’t thank any of you enough for taking me and Sam in when you did, for training us and teaching us, but you’re thinking like mutants and this isn’t a mutant attack.  This was about a demon and something dark he’s been trying to do to my family for years.  I don’t know why it happened last night.  I don’t know why it attacked on Sam’s six month birthday again but it did and the ritualistic feel of it makes every hunting instinct I have ring like a god damned bell.”

“We don’t know that the demon is after your family specifically Dean.  We don’t know what he wants,” Bobby reminded the younger hunter.

“What else could it be?” Dean demanded.

“I think it’s time we found out.”  All the eyes in the room were on him now and Charles knew what he needed to do even if he hated the idea.  He’d left this landmine alone for a long time and he didn’t like the idea of uncovering it now but they needed to know the truth.  Dean and Sam needed to know.

“How?”

Bobby was the one to answer, the only one that understood just how dark the Winchester past was.  “There was a witness to what happened to Sam all those years ago.”

“My mom died in that fire,” Dean said quietly.

“And I am so sorry for that, but she wasn’t who I was referring to Dean.  I meant you.”

“Dean wasn’t there,” Sam managed to stutter out after a few moments of silence.

“The night your mother died wasn’t the only time you were visited, Sam.  The fact that the demon’s blood gave you your abilities implies that Dean received the same treatment himself.  We just have to look into your brother’s memories for him to find the answers.”

Oddly enough, Dean was silent.  Sam seemed furious at the implication but when he turned to Dean and saw his brother’s head bowed his anger seemed to fade.  “Dean?”

Dean looked up then, squaring his shoulders as if he were stepping into a fight.  In all his years, Charles had never seen two people so in tune with one another and so ready to sacrifice for the other.  It was a tragedy the likes of which Shakespeare wrote but Charles still hoped for a happy ending for the Winchester brothers somewhere down the line.

“He’s right.  If I knew something … if he did the same to me …” Dean shook his head and looked to the professor.  “You know about the nightmares?”

“Of course.”  He didn’t say anything else about them.  Sam obviously didn’t know that Dean had been dreaming of yellow eyes for the past six months.  Whatever else Dean got from the dreams, Charles didn’t know.  Dean lashed out often in his nightmares but he had a knack for keeping the specific details out of Charles’s field of vision.  Yellow eyes in a field of flame had come through though and Charles remembered the look he’d taken into Dean’s mind years before and remembered the yellow eyed demon that had changed both boys irrevocably.

“Alright.  So what do I need to do?”

“Why don’t you lie down Dean?” Charles said.  “We can have the others leave if it would make you more comfortable.”

Dean let out a bitter laugh.  “Hate to tell you, Professor, but nothing is going to make me more comfortable.”  He moved to the couch though and sat back, letting his body relax but his mind was a sea of turmoil.

Charles closed his eyes, allowing himself to concentrate on Dean entirely.  He spoke softly, soothingly and he felt the moment when Dean settled down and allowed him into the privacy of his thoughts.

Following someone into the labyrinth of their memories was never an easy task and Dean Winchester wasn't an average person.  The memories Charles needed to access were buried deep in a place where Dean refused to look but Charles needed him to go to that place.

Dean was a fighter though and even more importantly he was a caregiver and nothing would stop him from taking care of his brother, not even the secret he'd kept from himself for so long.  Charles followed the beam of colors that was Dean trying to access the dark places of his mind.  The outer regions of Dean’s memories were horrific in their casualness.  Memories of stitching his father and brother were thrown beside long stretches of hungry days waiting for his father to come home.  Nights sitting beside Sam at the table doing homework slid into memories of anxiety over missed school days and tests until Dean accepted that school was never going to be able to be a priority for him even as he fought to make sure it was for Sam.  Roadside diners, local conquests and hunts gone right were piled onto memories of theft when things were too tight and Dad was gone.

Underneath the everyday horrors of their life was the layer of good moments in Dean's life.  There were girls who'd peaked more than a passing interest, the feel of the impala humming under his hands, Bobby Singer's constant warmth in their lives and the friends Dean had developed since coming to stay at the Institute.

Underneath that was the core of who Dean was.  His father's few words of praise tripped into his many stinging criticisms.  The confidence he gained from a spar with Logan or one of the older students who should have beaten him but that never stood a chance against the indomitable will and creative mind that was Dean.

And here the darkness tried to swallow them whole as Dean pushed further into the mass of his emotions.  Sam filled the space almost entirely, a lifetime of loving and caring for his brother, of watching and teaching and being everything he should be to the boy.  A lifetime of being more, of being father and brother and mother, best friend and confidante, teacher and trainer.  Partner.  Pulsing edges of darkness where Dean's love for his brother became something more.  Years of knowing and wanting but pushing it aside even when he could see it so clearly reflected back in his brother's eyes.

Charles knew.  He has always known and he hadn't needed to explain it to Bobby Singer either.  Bobby had come to him soon after the boys started to settle in, warning Charles of his concerns. Neither believed Dean would ever hurt Sam but neither boy had ever been given a chance at normal.  Sam had been hell bent on going to university for as long as Charles knew him and Dean had already accepted the life of a hunter.  Dean would never have tried to tie Sam to that life and Sam had been smart enough to never try to extend their relationship when he knew they would be separated.  Charles didn't know what would happen now but he hoped whatever path they chose they would come out the stronger for it.

Underneath Dean's love for Sam was the darkest of days, his mother's death and the way he'd carried his brother to safety, carried the weight of his brother for so long he'd grown broad shouldered to keep it into adulthood.  Under it was a single memory, not erased and not forgotten, but dormant until he had need for it.  It was to that memory that Dean plunged them into, covering them both in shame and regret and darkness.  As memory settled around them Charles watched a room form around him.  There was a crib with a young child staring up at a beautiful woman with long blond hair and a look of adoration on her face.  Resting on her hip was an older boy though he was still too young for primary school. The woman caressed the infants face and the older boy squirmed until she laughed softly and held him properly so he could give the baby a kiss.

"I have to take good care of Sammy," the boy said as he looked solemnly into his mother’s eyes.  "Be the best brother ever."

His mother kissed his forehead and held him close for a moment.  "That is the job of a big brother, isn't it?"  The child nodded and she sighed.  "You are the best big brother Dean.  I know you'd do anything to protect Sammy."

"And you and Daddy."

She stared at him for a moment, suspicion heavy on her brow as she watched her oldest.  "Dean, why do you need to protect me and Daddy?"

"Like Daddy did," Dean clarified.  "He was a soldier and I'm gonna be like Daddy."

Relief flooded the mother’s face and she set her son down and walked towards the door.  "Remember Dean, you can only play in her a few more minutes.  Just play quietly and I'll come put you to bed when I finish the dishes."

She left the room and closed the door behind her.  Dean watched for a moment before he walked to the door and pressed his ear to listen to the sounds in the hallway.  After a minute he turned away and looked towards the closet.

"You can come out now."

A figure emerged from the dark corner of the closet and smiled down at Dean.  "You are a very wise boy, Dean.  It was clever of you to ask your mother like that."

"You said you wouldn't help me if I told her."

"And yet you still wanted to know if it was okay to speak to me.  Very clever.  Do you believe me now?"

Dean nodded.  "Mamma said my job is to protect Sammy and her and Daddy.  How are you gonna help me?"

The man in front of Dean crouched down to look him in the eye.  "Do you believe in angels and demons Dean?"

Dean just nodded his head.

"Some of them walk the Earth, even as we speak.  Some of them will want to hurt your brother and some of them will want to help him.  I want to help him by helping you.  I'm going to help you protect your brother better than anyone else ever could."

"How?"

"I'll give you something to drink and as you grow older it will make you into a superhero.  You'll be able to protect Your Sammy and keep him safe no matter who comes for him."

“Superheros aren’t real,” Dean said cautiously.

“No, they really aren’t,” the man said, “but you’ll be as close as a human can be.  Do you want that Dean?  Do you want to be able to protect your family?”

The four year old nodded.  “Yes.”

“Will you be a good soldier, follow orders, and keep Sammy safe?”

“Yes.”

“Good boy, Dean,” the man said.  “Then come here.  I have something for you.”

Dean moved closer to the man and he pulled his sleeve up as his eyes flashed yellow.  Dean didn’t react to the man’s eyes and Charles knew he’d seen it before.  A knife came out of a hidden fold in the man’s jacket and Dean’s eyes widened.  The man smiled warmly at him.  “No worries, Dean-o.  I said there are old creatures walking the earth and I am one of them.  I’m going to cut myself and you’re going to take a drink from my wrist.  Just a small one, but it’ll start you down the right path.”

“That’s gross.”

The man laughed softly.  “There are worse things in the world than a little blood.  My blood will make you strong.  It will make Sam strong.”

“Me first, so I know it won’t hurt him.”

The man nodded.  “Of course.”  He slit his wrist then, a small incision that welled up immediately.  He held his wrist out to Dean and the boy took the arm in his hands and put it to his mouth.  He licked across the wound and grimaced.

“Tastes like a penny,” he said quietly.  He looked up then and frowned.  “Don’t tell Mommy.  I was playing with it and I swallowed it.”

“I won’t tell.  This time though Dean, take a drink,” he said, raising his wrist.

Dean followed orders this time, sucking on the wound until the man pulled away from him.  “Good boy, Dean-o.  Sammy’s turn.”

“No,” Dean said, moving between the man and Sammy.  “Come back tomorrow night.  If I’m okay Sammy can have it too.”

The man stood up, watching Dean for a minute before nodding.  “You will be a fierce soldier in your brother’s army.  I’ll bend to your wishes tonight Dean.  You’ll learn to trust me in time and you and Sam will both benefit from my tutelage, but remember that you will follow my orders after this Dean.  You have this one act of defiance.  In the months to come, you will not be allowed to stand between Sam and I again.”

Dean nodded.  “Just don’t hurt him.”

The man smiled again and nodded.  “Until tomorrow night then.”

The young boy looked around the room before he walked over to his brother’s crib.  He pushed the footstool closer and used that to reach the top of the railing and climbed in with Sam.  He wrapped an arm over his brother’s shoulder and Sam sighed heavily as he squirmed closer to Dean.

“Don’t need to worry, Sammy,” Dean said softly.  “I’m the best big brother and I’ll keep you safe.  Don’t need superpowers to do it either.” He promised.   He paused for a moment though, looking up at the ceiling before he smiled and looked back at Sam.  “Flying would be cool though.”

The room faded around him as the child-Dean fell asleep in his brother’s crib.  Charles barely had time to become aware of his body back in his office before Dean sat up, locked eyes with Sam and then ran from the room.

They all stood but Charles knew where Dean was heading and he didn’t want anyone to ask questions yet.  “Let him go,” he said, gaining their attention.  The others turned to look at him, but Sam remained focused on his brother.  Charles didn’t know what Sam had seen in Dean’s eyes before he ran but he could see the way Sam clutched his fists to keep himself still.

“What he remembers,” Charles paused to think of how best to say it.  “He needs time to come to terms with what he’s remembered.”

“What did he remember?” Sam asked, eyes still focused on the doorway.

“I think we need to wait for Dean to answer that.”

Sam looked away from the door and to the professor.  “What was it?”

Charles sighed.  “We had some theories about what was happening to you and to Dean.  We know that Dean and Sam get their power from the same source.”

“A demon,” Bobby said.

“The demon,” Sam corrected.    Sam moved away from the others though to stand in front of the window that looked over the front entrance of the school.  “He’s running.”

Logan went to stand beside Sam and looked back at Charles.  “Do you want me to go get him?”

“Good luck trying to find Dean if he doesn’t want to be found,” Sam said softly.

Charles took a deep breath and reached for Dean’s mind.  It was chaos but there was no intent to harm himself in his thoughts.  He needed to put distance between himself and his brother and guilt filled his mind.  Charles didn’t need to look into Dean’s thoughts to know that he wouldn’t go far though.  He would never leave Sam for long when he was in danger.

“No, let him be.  Since Dean has left, it falls on me to tell you what you need to know.  What Dean learned was that Dean and Sam were both fed blood from the demon.”  He looked at Sam and was surprised by the anger in the man’s stance.  “The demon offered Dean something that the four year old couldn’t deny.”

“What could a demon possibly offer Dean to make him betray his family?” Logan asked.

“A way to protect them.  He filled Dean with ideas of protecting his little brother, of being strong enough to keep Sam safe from the forces in the world that might try to hurt him.”

“So even then I was used against him.”

Charles nodded because it was all he could do.  “He’ll come back soon Sam.”

Sam let out a shaky breath and walked out of the room.  Charles didn’t need to tell the others to give him space.  Both Bobbys were watching him sadly and Charles knew that the younger was holding himself together so long as he was needed.  He had his own grief over Sam’s girlfriend to confront but he was standing strong.   The older Bobby was reeling with the implications though they had long known theanswer.  He wouldn’t be happy when Charles told him all of what he’d seen but none of it was good news.  Whatever reasons the demons had for coming for Sam now, the plans were deep and long buried.

“Bobby,” the younger man seemed to know he was speaking to him and he turned to look at the professor.  “Go get some sleep.  We’ll settle this once Dean returns.”

The young man walked out, leaving Charles with Bobby and Logan.  Logan still stood at the window and let out a string of curses.  “Damn kid just stole my bike.”

“What?”  Charles turned to look out the window in time to see young Sam at the end of the driveway.

“Where in the name of hell does that boy think he’s going?”

Charles didn’t need to reach out to Sam to understand and he thought Bobby just needed to voice his frustrations because they both knew.  Sam needed to be with the only person that made him safe.

“Should I go get him?”

With demons and mutants alike hunting for Sam it seemed unsafe for him to be out but there was one thing Charles knew without a doubt.  “No, Dean will find him long before you and I could.  For tonight anyway, we need to trust the Winchester brothers to keep each other safe.”

 

 

 

  

 

 

Sam stared at pine tree covered wall paper and felt himself relax slightly.  There was something comforting in the old routine; find a cheap room, salt the doors and windows, then sit around and wait for Dean to come home and hope he was okay when he got there.  It shouldn’t be, not with everything that had happened, but it was.

Once upon a time, this had been his life.  Before Dad died, Sam and Dean had been destined to a life of hunting.  A life of fear and constant struggle where the wrong word said in the wrong ear could end with CPS on their tail or could lead them to the wrong story and lives could be lost.  As much as Sam missed his dad, he didn’t miss this life.  When Bobby had called Charles Xavier all those years ago, Sam had felt betrayed and scared.  Dean had been at his side though and it was only Dean’s encouragement that had given him the strength to try to control his powers.

It had given him the ability to leave the hunting life and try to find something normal.  He’d had it for a few short years.  He couldn’t call the life and schooling at the Institute normal but they’d led him to Stanford and to Jess.  He let out a shaky breath at the thought of that beautiful girl.  He loved her, no matter that he’d always known she deserved better.  He’d loved her, no matter that he knew if Dean ever walked in the door he’d have to leave her.  He never thought she would suffer his mother’s fate.

He swallowed against the lump in his throat and dropped onto his back on the bed.  Jessica merited a better memorial than his grief, especially when half of his mind was consumed with his brother.  She deserved better but it was fitting since his heart had always been half Dean’s even when he’d been hers.  He closed his eyes, trying to block out the memory of Jess covered in flames.

He wasn’t sure when he started crying but the light faded by the time he stopped.  He felt calmer now that he’d been able to let out some of his grief but he wouldn’t feel any peace so long as Dean was missing.

He went into the bathroom and took a hot shower, allowing a few more tears to fall as he grieved for the life he’d wanted.  It was over and he knew that.  No matter who was coming for him, normal would just get the people around him killed.  At least with Dean his brother knew how to protect himself and knew what was out there – both the supernatural and the mutant.

When he came out of the bathroom in nothing but his jeans the motel room was dark but Sam could feel a presence there.  He stilled, ready for a fight but a sharp huff gave away his brother’s location at the foot of the bed.

“What the hell are you doing out here Sammy?”

Sam shrugged.  As he walked into the room he continued drying his hair with a towel as his eyes adjusted to the darkened room.  “Just needed to be away from the mansion.”

“From Charles you mean.”

“I’m not too worried about him.  I figure as many years as he’s known us there aren’t any secrets he hasn’t figured out yet.”

“Then why aren’t you there where he can protect you?”

“You think I feel safe in the Institute?”

Dean sat down on the bed and Sam could see the weariness in his shoulders.  “You always did before.”

“Yeah, well, in case you didn’t notice Dean, you were always there too.”

“So?”

“You can’t be that dense Dean.”

His brother inhaled sharply before turning to look at Sam.  Sam couldn’t see his brother’s expression but years of living and breathing in Dean’s space gave him the advantage of knowing what he’d see anyway.  “Sam, I’m not safe.  Hell, I’m the reason you’re in this mess in the first place.”

“No.”

 

“Sam, listen.  Whatever Charles told you, he was sugar coating it, alright?  The Yellow-Eyed Demon asked me.  He asked me if I wanted it and I said yes.  And then,” Dean’s voice broke and Sam watched as Dean dropped his head into his hands.  Shame ran off his brother’s stance and before he could think better of it, Sam was sitting between Dean’s knees. 

“He asked if I would let you drink too Sammy, and I said yes.  I let that son of a bitch do this to you.”

“Dean,” Sam tried to get Dean to stop but his brother was in full self-mutilating form.

“Everything that’s happened to our family is my fault Sam.  If it wasn’t for me, Mom and Dad would still be alive.  Hell, Jess might be too.”

“No.”

“Sam-“

“No.  You listen to me Dean.  What Charles told me was that even at four years old the demon knew that the best way to manipulate you was to use me.  At four years old you did what you thought you needed to do to protect me.  I don’t know what he wanted with me, but he came for me and you stood in his way.  What you did let you stand beside me every step of my life.  The terrible things that happened to us happened because of him.  The things I remember best, the things I have loved the most have happened because of you.”

“Sammy-“

“What would have happened to me without you Dean?” Sam asked.   “And something that haunts me now, is what would your life have been like without me?”

“Stop right there Sam.”

“No, you didn’t have to have this life Dean.  He did this to me and you got caught up in it, you and Jess and Mom and Dad.  You could have had the apple pie life Dean.  You could have had a real life with someone you love, kids and a white picket fence and the whole nine yards.  Instead, you’ve got me.  A little brother who … is twisted in ways no one should be.”

The room was silent and Sam knew Dean understood what he was talking about.  “And I’ll never know, never, if I love you like this because of what the demon did or if it was just the way we were raised.”

Dean raised a hand slowly as if he thought Sam would run but when his brother’s fingers brushed against Sam’s cheek, he leaned into the touch until his face was cupped in Dean’s palm.  “Sammy, there is nothing wrong with you.  I just-“

Sam knew his brother was going to blame himself for this and he couldn’t listen to it.  With everything else they’d have to deal with he couldn’t take that.  There was no shutting Dean up though and Sam reacted without thinking.  He pushed up onto his knees, hands gripping his brother’s thighs tightly as he pressed his lips to Dean’s.

Dean didn’t pull back the way Sam thought he would.  Instead, he pulled Sam closer, deepening the kiss.  It had been a desperate gamble a moment before to quiet his brother and keep him from blaming Sam’s feelings on himself but with Dean’s fingers pushing back into his hair and angling his head to the right position Sam was able to gentle the kiss into something pleasurable.  He took his time to map out his brother’s mouth with his tongue, memorized the taste and feel of his lips and the way he moaned slightly when Sam’s fingers brushed against Dean’s stomach before they settled on his hips.

When Dean pulled away, he only moved far enough to rest his forehead against Sam’s.  “Sam, we can’t.”

“We can,” Sam argued.  “I want to.  Dean, I love you.  I’m not leaving you ever again.  Four years wasn’t enough of a separation to stop this.  This is what we have.  No matter what we do or say, there will never be anyone else that can hold a candle to this and you know it.”

His brother’s intake of breath wasn’t a happy one but there was too much bittersweet in their lives for Sam to refute it.  He loved Dean mindlessly and he knew it was returned.  As much as he’d loved Jess it could never stand against the hurricane that was his brother’s love.

“I don’t want to hurt you Sam.  I can’t lose you.”

He didn’t say again, but Sam heard the words there anyway.  Sam had tried normal and every day had been an exercise in will power to keep from calling Dean.  When he was weak, he’d ask Bobby to call Dean, or he’d call Logan or Bobby Singer and see what his brother was doing.  Dean had been on his mind at every turn and now that they were back together Sam knew he could never leave Dean again.

“I’m not leaving you, Dean.  Ever.  This is it for me.  Us.  This life.”  He stared up at his brother and could  see the echo of pain there, the understanding that Sam had finally embraced the life that Dean had never wanted him to live.  “I love you, Dean.”

“Jesus, Sammy.”

Sam was pulled off the floor before he could register what was happening.  He was with Dean though so he didn’t fight what his brother was doing.  He was on his back on the bed with Dean hovering over him.  When Sam reached a hand up to Dean’s neck, his brother let him pull their lips together.

There was no hesitation after that.  Dean kissed Sam like he needed Sam to breath for him and Sam hung onto Dean until the need passed.  When Dean’s lips left his and moved to his neck, Sam moaned at the feeling of his brother’s caresses.

“Never moaned like that when I touched you before,” Dean teased as he nipped at a scar he’d sewn up years before.

“Would have if you’d used your lips to do the stitching,” Sam answered breathily.

Dean laughed but he didn’t take his lips from Sam’s skin.  He worked his way lower, trailing kisses and bites over Sam’s stomach before he stopped at waist of Sam’s jeans.  “How far, Sammy?” Dean asked, his lips just skimming the edge of Sam’s pants, his tongue dipping under every so often.

“I will kill you if you stop,” Sam answered as he looked down at Dean.  His brother was smirking but there was concern in Dean’s eyes.  “Been waiting for this for years, Dean.  Need this tonight.”

Dean watched him a second longer but he must have seen something he needed because then he undid the button of Sam’s jeans and pulled the zipper down.  A moment later Dean had him stripped naked on the bed.

As much as Sam liked the feeling of his brother over him, it wasn’t fair that Dean was completely dressed while Sam was without a stitch so he reversed their position, surprising Dean.  Dean was stunned but Sam just smiled down at him.  “Only one that can do that,” he said with a grin.

Dean let out a small burst of laughter.  “Never figured out how one ability is so damn focused on you and the other passes you by completely.  Not fair that you can get past the kinesthetic awareness but all I can find is you.”

It was an old argument, something Sam used to tease about when Dean was high from a fight with the others or something to push each other away with when things had become too close.  Tonight, it felt more like a reminder of how much Dean trusted and needed Sam.  It was returned in equal measure and Sam let it show as he stripped his brother of his clothes.

When they were both lying together, Sam felt the rest of the world melt around them.  It was just the two of them and when Dean finally entered into his body, the world seemed to still completely.  Dean’s eyes were reverent as he looked down at Sam and Sam knew it was reflected back.  In all the years that Sam had fought against this pull he felt towards his brother he had never dared to imagine what this moment might be like.  As Dean moved inside him, everything felt right and safe and he knew he was loved more than any other creature in the world just as Dean was.

Their coupling was far too short but exhaustion and grief and the longing of too many years gave them desperation in even the calmest of touches.  When Dean reached between them and wrapped his fingers around Sam’s cock he worked the length a few times and Sam was spilling between them, his body tightening around Dean who followed him quickly after.

Dean leaned his forehead against Sam’s as they both caught their breath.  When Dean pulled away with a soft kiss, Sam sat on the bed and watched as Dean disappeared into the bathroom.  He had a few minutes to wonder if Dean would freak out when he came back – to wonder if he would himself – before Dean came back with a warm washcloth and wiped Sam clean.  It was almost like Dean caring for him as a child but the look on Dean’s face was considerate and caring and unlike the way he usually treated Sam.  Between them there had always been a fair amount of tease and banter to keep them from pushing into dangerous territory.  Sam wasn’t sure what would happen to them now that they’d firmly stepped into dangerous grounds.

“Stop thinking Sammy,” Dean said as he tossed the rag back towards the bathroom.  “I can hear you from here and if you keep me awake I will strangle you in your sleep.”

Sam laughed at that and when Dean scooted up into the bed, he allowed himself to be settled into Dean’s arms, his head resting on Dean’s shoulder.

“Gonna freak out in the morning?” Sam asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Probably.  When we go to see the Professor?  Damn straight.  Don’t think he’s going to be worried too much about that until we get the rest of this all cleared up though.”

Sam nodded and closed his eyes, allowing himself to feel the safety that always came with Dean’s proximity.   He was just nodding off when Dean spoke softly.

“I’m sorry about Jess.  As much as … as much as I always wanted this, I hoped you’d get the chance to have something with her.”

Sam felt tears well up in his eyes.  “I did.  It was short, but it was something.”  He didn’t say anything else and neither did Dean.  When tears fell from Sam’s face and down Dean’s chest his brother just pulled him closer and gave Sam the support and love he always had.

He didn’t remember falling asleep, but his dreams were full of the people who’d loved him and of the man who had sacrificed everything to make Sam safe and happy and who was still holding him close through the night.

 

  
Bobby Singer stared at the Wolverine, seeing the man in his true mutant form for the first time.  It wasn't that he hadn't seen the claws before or the way he healed, but life as an instructor at the Xavier Institute was a far cry from the soldier the man really was.  The man before him was hardened by a life Bobby knew little of but a soldier could always recognize another soldier.

The demon behind them was laughing, a dark nasty gurgle that echoed in the warehouse around them.  The devils trap held the demon well but there was nothing fearful in its demeanor.

"It's scared of something bigger than us Pops."

Bobby snorted at the name.  Like they didn't both know that the Wolverine was older than him.  It was the truth though.  The demon wasn't afraid of them.

"Guess we ought to see what does frighten it then."  It was meant to instigate a reaction from the demon and it worked like a charm.

"You think there is anything on this Earth that I'm afraid of?  There are things coming that would make your blood run cold if you only knew about them.  You can't imagine the hell that Azazel is going to unleash on you.  The world has never seen the likes of his special children and they will cower in fear when they do."

Bobby frowned as he looked at Logan.  Azazel was a name Bobby had seen before but it was ancient lore, nothing current.

"What is that Yellow eyed bastard up to now?" He asked.

"Azazel has plans that will decimate you."

And there was the payoff.  They now knew that Azazel was the name of the yellow eyed demon that had killed Mary Winchester and Jessica Moore.

“I assume that means Azazel will want all his special children to be ready then.  Too bad we’re going to hunt them all down first.”

“They were bathed in fire as babes.  Nothing you do will touch them.  Nothing you do will ever stop the children from rising and taking what it rightfully theirs.”

Bobby shook his head and looked over at Logan.  “Well, I’ve heard enough of this horseshit.  You wanna do the honors?”

Logan wasn’t a usual hunting companion but Bobby liked to make sure he kept his edge.  The man was around Dean more than Bobby was and he needed to know that Logan still remembered how to exorcise a demon.  A few minutes later the room was silent with only a dead man sitting in a circle.

“Should we call the others?”

Bobby shook his head.  “Sam and Dean have been hiding out for the last three days but they’re checking in with Charles.  Don’t think we need to warn them before I can do more research.”

“Something he said meant something to you.”  He said, waiting for an explanation.

“Special children?  We know the demon was coming after Sam for some reason.  And he certainly went through a trial by fire.”

“His girlfriend.”

“And his mother.  When he was six months old she was burned up on the ceiling of his nursery.”

“I knew it was something nasty but Dean never said how she died.”

Bobby let out a sigh, thinking to the boys he’d inherited when John Winchester had died.  “Think Sam is the only thing keeping him sane right now,” Bobby admitted.  “I ain’t heard from him since Charles was in his head, but I know Dean.  What the demon did to him all those years ago, its ripping him apart right now.”

“Let’s be grateful Sam’s as much an idiot as he is then.  He’ll have to protect the kid until we can get him to see straight about this whole mess.”

Bobby nodded but he didn’t think there was any way to keep Dean from shouldering the weight of his mother’s death, his father’s life of hunting, or the life Sam had been forced to live because of the demon’s actions.  His acceptance of the demon’s blood at four years of age would haunt Dean for the rest of his life.  When Bobby looked back at Logan, he realized the other man knew it too.

“You know, you ain’t so bad to have around after all,” Bobby said with a grin.  Logan smiled around the stump of a cigar he’d been chewing on.

“You ain’t so bad yourself, Pops.”

  
Dean still wasn’t sure this was the best plan but Sam was bull headed and a pain in the ass on a good day.  Today he was determined to set the record for pissing Dean off the quickest and keeping him on that edge the longest.

The day had started out well enough, breakfast at a diner and talk of returning back home.  Dean wanted to call Logan and have him meet up with them just in case there was trouble but Sam put his foot down and breakfast quickly became a fight to keep Sam safe when the idiot wanted to just breeze back to the mansion like it was any old day.  Dean tried to remind Sam that the demon and the mutants were after him now, but Sam countered by saying that Dean was afraid to go back and face Charles after what they’d done.  As much as Dean would like to pretend he wasn’t afraid of the professor’s disappointment he wasn’t that good a liar but that would never keep him from doing what was right by Sam.  The talk almost turned to screaming but they’d both simmered down to a boil and left it there when they’d scared the waitress off by shattering the coffee mug she was holding without touching it.

Dean told Sam to knock it off and Sam told Dean it wasn’t him and neither was willing to back down and say they did it.  Dean literally couldn’t have done it so he wasn’t sure why Sam was being such an ass but Sam was like that today and Dean wanted to take him out back for a good old fashioned spar just to knock some sense into him.  Or take him back to the motel room and make him squirm for hours to leave him incoherent enough to do whatever Dean told him.

Neither was going to happen and instead they were headed back home with Dean in the impala and Sam following behind on Logan’s motorcycle.  Boy was going to catch hell for that when they got home, Dean was sure, and he wasn’t going to try to step between Logan and Sam this time.  What Sam had done was reckless and stupid.  Dean understood why he did it; hell he knew his brother better than anyone and he knew what Sam was thinking but that didn’t make running off to some motel the right move.  Dean just had to hope that they’d been able to keep anyone off their tracks as they switched from room to room, town to town over the past few days.

In that, at least, the Winchester brothers still remembered their former lives.  Dean could never forget and he still preferred dingy motels and run down inns when he was on a hunt to the places he knew he could afford with Charles footing the bill.

Dean looked through the rear view mirror of the impala to see his brother riding behind him.  He felt too exposed as they drove to the mansion and he rolled down the window and stuck his arm out to motion Sam ahead of him.  He wasn’t sure why he felt nervous with the school in sight but one thing he’d learned over the years was to trust his instincts.  Today they were all over the place.  He’d tried to explain it to Sam, that if mutants were out there looking for him they knew about the school and would be watching it but Sam was ready to be home and that had been the end of the argument.

Dean was kicking himself now for letting Sam win.  Sam hovered behind the car for a minute but then Sam swung the bike around the driver’s side of the car and flashed him a smile before he pulled ahead.  Dean watched as Sam sped ahead down the street and he slowed the impala.  He breathed a sigh of relief as the motorcycle reached the driveway but he didn’t speed up.  He continued on at a slower pace as he tried to push aside his misgivings and give himself a moment to pull his thoughts together before he had to report in to the professor.  No matter what Sam said he wasn't afraid of Charles.  He didn't fear being tossed out if the professor found out about him and Sam.  He thought Charles would probably be disappointed with him for this turn of events but the man knew how long Sam and Dean had struggled with it.  There were more important things to worry about though and Dean wanted his head in the right place.

He let out a deep breath to cool his nerves but as he did he felt the slight vibration on the passenger side of the car where something was coming up towards them.  He swerved the impala left just in time to miss a blast of fire.

"God damn it!" Dean yelled as he swerved away from the drive way and continued down the road.  He knew this was gonna happen!  His only consolation was that Sam was already on Charles's property and he would be safer there than anywhere else.   As crazy as Sam was sometimes he wouldn't come back out now.  Not when demons and mutants were gunning for him and he risked putting Dean in greater jeopardy.

Dean heard the familiar roar of Logan's motorcycle behind him but he couldn't see who was driving it.  He let out a deep breath and felt for his brother, relaxing slightly as Sam was surrounded by Jean and Scott at the front of the school.  A battle was raging with the three at the center but Dean knew there were other participants, Charles and his students were somewhere in that building and the professor had been preparing for something to happen even as he'd hoped for a better solution.

Fire kept him driving down his current path and Dean felt like he was being herded.  The next blast of fire ended quickly though and Dean looked back to see Logan on his bike with Bobby turning his ice onto John.  With their friendly neighborhood pyromaniac busy, dean was able to turn off their current street and down the back roads that he knew all too well.  He'd be able to take one of the smaller roads to the back entrance of the school and he'd probably be able tiger there before the fighting was done.

He gunned the impala but suddenly the car was floating above the ground.  Dean's eyes widened as he looked out the window to see Magneto watching him.  Magneto looked at the mutant beside him and sneered.

"Where is the other Winchester?"

The man's skin gave off an earthy green cast that made Dean think of bogs and swamps.  "Inside the gates.  The boy was sure they would be in the car together so he let the bike pass to keep them from suspecting anything."

"Sorry to have ruined your plans," dean said with a grin.  "Guess the only Winchester you'll get to see today is me."

"This one will do.  Toad, silence him but keep him alive.  I still need him struggling."

Dean didn't like the sound of that but before he could figure out what was happening his car was dropped to the ground and the green guy spat something at him.  It hit Dean in the face and he couldn't breathe through it.  His mouth and nose were covered with a substance that was hardening and all he could do was try to tear it free.  Nothing happened though and his last vision before blacking out was of Magneto sneering down at him with Toad at his side.

 

 

  
When Dean woke he had a killer headache and he was pissed as hell.  He was tied to a chair in the middle of a warehouse and there was nothing around for miles.  He’d kept his eyes closed at first to see what his hearing could tell him but there was only the soft sound of a single person breathing.  No sounds from the outside world permeated the walls and when Dean opened his eyes it was to find himself sitting across from Sabretooth.  The mutant was glaring at him and Dean wished he knew more about him.  As close as he was with Logan and as much as they shared in their understanding about brothers, neither of them had been overly open talking about the details.

Dean ignored him when the mutant didn’t look like he was going to do anything now that he saw Dean was awake.  Windows on the wall showed nothing but a blue sky and Dean could have been in the country or an abandoned warehouse area for all he knew.  He had nothing to understand his whereabouts.  Except that he was being held by Charles Xavier’s one time friend.  Someone Dean had once even sat down and had a meal with.

“So, the main guy going to show up soon or do I get to die of boredom?”

“Oh, he’ll get here soon enough and then you’ll wish he’d left you to something so mundane.”

Dean really didn’t like the sound of that.  He closed his eyes to find his brother and let out a sigh of relief when he found Sam with Charles and Bobby.  Sam was seething but he was well.  Dean could never really hear what was happening around Sam but he could see enough to know who he was with and to know that Sam was trying to find him.

Dean felt the vibration of footsteps before he heard them and he turned his head to the side to look over his shoulder.  A door at the back of the room opened and two sets of footsteps could be heard echoing through the room.

“Guess this is show time then,” Dean said as he looked back over at Sabretooth.

“Dean Winchester.  I’m afraid my hospitality is somewhat less than what you gave me the last we met,” Magneto said as he moved around to the front.  He wore a metal helmet over his head and Dean knew that was what was keeping the professor from looking into his mind.  “You were gracious company.  I would not have resorted to such tactics if I thought Charles would let me come to you openly.”

“You mean, if you thought I would listen to you without being kidnapped,” Dean corrected.

Magneto frowned.  “You are in a dangerous position, Dean.  I don’t need you to meet my objectives but I would prefer to keep you alive.  It would, in the long run, make my life easier.  I will make do without though if you try my patience too much.”

“And what are your objectives?” Dean asked.

“I want your brother, Dean,” the mutant said softly.

Dean tensed and the other man smiled.  “I had hoped to catch him today so that I could talk to him but it looks like you’ve forced me to other options.”

“Why do you want my brother?”  
Magneto smiled then and a chair pulled itself away from the wall by Sabretooth and settled in front of Dean.  Magneto sat down and looked at Dean with far too much amusement for Dean’s liking.

“Years ago, your father set out on a quest to kill the creature that killed your mother.  Not long ago, I found out about that creature and others like him.  He gave me a certain insight into the world that I had not yet seen.  He had a plan but like most men, his desires were base and vile.  He wanted only what he could take for himself.  It was short sighted for a creature with such a lifespan and I realized the only way to ensure the existence of mutant kind was to use him and his kind.  His plan was to take a handful of special children – children marked by his own blood – and to use them to control the demons of the world.  With these special children he could rule mankind.  With one special child, the rest would fall in line and he would be the king of the world while that special child would be the king of hell.”

“You’re not serious.”  Dean had to stare at Magneto for a few minutes before he realized that the man meant exactly what he said.  “You are?”

“Deathly.”  Magneto said as he stood up, the chair floating back where it had come from.  “Time has come to pick sides in this war, Dean.  No matter how you became one of us, you and your brother are mutants.  Humanity will not suffer a superior race to flourish.   They will segregate us.  They will blame us.  Then they will exterminate us.  I will not be caged again.”

Dean shook his head.  “We are all humans.  Being a mutant doesn’t make you any less human.  And chasing humanity by using the plan of a megalomaniac demon doesn’t exactly speak well of your intentions for humanity when you get done.”

“Humanity doesn’t have to die.  They just need to understand their place.”

“And where is that?”

“Under the heel of evolution’s chosen.”

Dean sighed.  “Demons I get.  People are just crazy.”

Magneto let out a huff of disgust.  “I never expected you and your brother to see reason.  But since I lost your brother today, you can help me get to him.”

“I won’t.  I won’t find Sam for you,” Dean defied the man.  “Nothing you can do would make me find him for you.”

Magneto shook his head.  “I don’t need you to find him Dean.  I know you can.  Pyro told us what you can do but what I really need is bait.  And that you will be.”

Magneto took his helmet off and Dean understood then.  Whatever was happening, Charles was bound to be looking for Magneto.  He would tap into what was happening and see it all.  Dean didn’t know if the professor could stop it but he prayed there wasn’t enough there to let the professor know where Dean was.

“Don’t bring Sammy here,” he said allowed, hoping the professor was already listening.  “Don’t you dare let Sam get caught up in this.”  
“I’m afraid the professor probably won’t hear you in time Dean, but I think Sammy probably will.  Your little brother has a most unusual gift and I have no doubt his visions will lead his straight to you if Charles misses this show.”

Dean wasn’t sure what was happening but suddenly the ropes on his arms were looser.  He registered the chance to move just as his arms were jerked out by the ropes that had held him tight.  Metal wire ran through the rope and Magneto was tying Dean up to a support beam.  He hung by his arms, shoulders screaming in agony as his weight was dropped.  His legs were tied as well and he couldn’t move any more now than he could have in the chair.

“Gonna leave me hanging?” he quipped, hoping to make the mutant mad enough to say or do something that he could use.

Magneto didn’t say anything but with a wave of his hand a small box fell over in front of Dean.  He saw the small nails inside and then Magneto waved again and Dean screamed as the mails flew through the air and through his flesh.  He didn’t know how many but he knew that Magneto was smart enough to keep the nails from hitting anything vital.  Dean might bleed to death from a thousand small cuts but the mutant wasn’t about to hit an artery and let him die quickly.

Another volley of nails soared through Dean and he couldn’t stop screaming.  It continued, pass after pass, until Dean’s voice was gone and his body was exhausted.  When the pain came, the only thing Dean could do was whisper his brother’s name over and over again, praying to whatever angels Mary Winchester had believed in, that his brother stayed hell and away from the warehouse.

 

 

 

 

 

Sam stared at the door of the warehouse and took a deep breath, trying to calm his turmoil.  Their father had always said the best way to get killed was to walk into a fight angry.  Anger made men do stupid things.  It was why Dean taunted people the way he did, to find a way to people’s weaknesses and exploit them to survive another day.

Sam wasn’t walking into a fight because he was angry though.  Sam was walking in because he was terrified.  He’d had vision after vision of Dean being torn apart little by little in the warehouse and it was only the professor’s grasp on Sam’s mind at the time that had kept Sam from going crazy.  Charles hoped to find a way to resolve his differences with Magneto peacefully but Sam wanted nothing more than to put a bullet through the man’s brain.  He wasn’t sure who would get their way tonight but so long as Dean was okay then Sam would find a way to survive it.  All he cared about was getting to Dean.  He wasn’t about to lose his brother when they’d finally given in to what they’d both wanted for so long.  No, Dean wasn’t getting an easy way out on this one.

“You ready for this kid?”

Sam looked at Logan and tried to hide his irritation.  Logan was Dean’s friend, not Sam’s and he didn’t know Sam the way he did his brother.  He didn’t know that Sam could handle himself in a real fight.   He’d never been on a hunt with Sam or seen him face out with a real adversary.  He’d just seen Sam and Dean spar when they were at the Institute.  Sam didn’t dislike Logan but he didn’t want to have to go in looking for Sam with someone worried about him instead.

“You have no idea what I’m ready for,” Sam answered.  Logan’s eyes hardened as he looked at Sam but Sam refused to back down.   “Let’s go get my brother.”

He took a step forward but he stopped, waiting for Bobby’s signal.  A moment later a thick block of ice formed around all the windows and all but the front door.  It wouldn’t last forever but Sam didn’t figure this fight would keep in the warehouse for too long.    

He didn’t look to see if the others were ready.  Bobby came up to stand beside Sam and that was all he needed.  When Bobby looked at Sam, Sam walked forward towards the only remaining door.  Logan was the one to get to it first and he kicked it in before running inside with Sam and Bobby right behind him.

“Down!” Logan yelled as he pushed Sam behind him.

Bobby turned and threw up a shield of ice as a ball of flame burst around them.  The heat singed the air around them and Sam didn’t need to look to know that Pyro was there.

“Where is my brother?” Sam yelled as the first wave of flame passed.

“Wow, you don’t seem to be very good at keeping track of him Sam.  Good thing he’s better at keeping track of you.”

“What did you do to him?”

“Oh you know, a little of this and a little of that.”

“Go Sam,” Bobby yelled at him as he faced off against Pyro.  “I got this.”

“In your dreams, Iceman.”

“I got your back,” Logan said as he pushed Sam towards the door at the back of the room that led to the back of the warehouse.

“And we’ve got yours,” Cyclops said as he and Jean entered the room.

“Thought you were going to hang back with the professor?” Logan asked.

“He told us to get busy,” Cyclops said as a filing cabinet came barreling towards them.  He blasted it with a beam from his eyes but Jean was knocked back a few steps as someone appeared in front of her almost out of thin air.  Sam barely saw her moving and he recognized her from the night Jessica died.

“Got this!  Go!”  Jean yelled to them.

Sam wanted to stay and help but the whole idea was to find Dean and get out as quickly as possible.  When Logan pushed him he let himself go through the door.

The warehouse opened up into one large room.  The room was empty except for the fact that Dean was still hanging from the rafters just as Sam had seen in his vision.  He ran forward to get to his brother but before he could get there he was thrown aside when someone ran into him.  The mutant wasn’t stopping and Sam hit the side wall hard.  He felt winded but he struggled to his feet in time to look up and see Sabertooth.  The mutant sneered at him but then he was gone as well.  Logan used the same tactic and took the mutant from the side, running until they hit the front wall.

Sam didn’t wait to see how Logan was doing.  He just ran to his brother.  Dean was tied too far off the ground for Sam to reach him but that didn’t mean he was helpless.  Dean wasn’t moving and that had Sam moving before he could get too terrified by the pool of blood that was still growing under Dean’s feet.

Once Sam had started learning to control his powers, he’d learned to push away the guilt and fear that having them had always caused.  Now, he thanked whatever deity he had too that he’d been given this gift.  He reached out his hand and he felt the ropes pulling out of the knots that held them tied to the rafters above.  He held them tight while another band of psychic energy wrapped around his brother to bring him slowly and safely down.  Sam didn’t know what sort of damage had been done from the damn ropes but he was afraid to rip the ropes off without being able to attend to Dean immediately.  He’d let the whole damn world rot if it meant keeping Dean safe, but if Sam died because he was caring for his brother then they’d both die.

He brought Dean down to him and let the ends of the rope fall to the ground once his brother was close.  When he set Dean down on the floor, he was there supporting his head and neck as he slid finally to a rest.  Dean’s body was covered in dried blood and scabs but some of the wounds still bled openly.  There had been some question about whether Dean healed too quickly for a normal person but they’d never tested the theory.  Sam thought they had an answer now but he wasn’t like Logan who healed immediately.  Dean would need time to recover from what had been done to him but it was time they didn’t have just yet.

“Dean?” Sam whispered his brother’s name.  He wasn’t sure what Dean would do if he woke to someone untying the knots from the rope on his arms but Sam didn’t want to end up on his back for trying to help Dean.  He hoped his voice was enough to keep Dean still if he did stir.

He looked closely at the wounds on his wrists and saw that there wasn’t a lot of damage.  Dean’s shoulders had taken the brunt of the trouble from hanging like that, though Dean would probably have scars from the ropes around his wrist when it was all done.  The ropes came off easily when Sam used his telekinesis instead of his hands and then he checked Dean’s shoulders more closely.  Dean groaned when Sam touched his shoulder but he had to do it even if he was hurting Dean.  Sam let out a relieved sigh at the noise though.  If Dean was conscious enough to feel the pain then this could have gone a lot worse.

“Sam!”

Without thinking Sam threw up a wall of psychic energy in front of him and Dean at Logan’s shout.  He looked up to see Sabretooth bouncing back off it and then Logan was plowing into Sabretooth again.  Sam kept the shield up in front of them and extended it all the way around to keep them in case something else came against them.

“Dean, come on man.  I need you to get on your feet.  We’re running out of time here.”  It was more than that though.  Sam had felt something in his vision, something monumental coming at them and he didn’t know how to stop it.  Magneto had plans that they didn’t understand – not even Charles who knew him best.  Someone Sam and Dean had become a part of that and he didn’t want to wonder why.  He was just thankful that whatever the mutant had planned, he wanted Dean alive and capable.  Strung up as his brother had been, they could have done far greater things to him than make him bleed a little.

Dean didn’t come too just yet but Sam felt his brother’s limbs moving slightly as he tried to get away from the pain.  It was a small start but if Dean was on his way to consciousness then Sam had faith it would happen quick.  Dean had never been one for taking the proper time to recover.

A blast at the front of the room made Sam move to position his body between Dean and the front while he looked up.  His shield held as pieces of the wall hurled towards them.  Jean and Cyclops came through the opening with Bobby in tow.  At some point, Charles and Bobby Singer had joined in with them as well and they were all together.  Sam didn’t know who the green guy was, but they’d met Psylocke and Callisto with Pyro at Stanford.  A woman with blue skin was there as well and though Sam had never seen her face to face, he knew her from many of his visions; Mystique.

Sam wanted to scream at the unnecessary fighting but he refused to bring any more attention on him when he was trying to keep Dean out of the fighting.  There was no reason to fight anyone here.  He’d been raised to fight the evil things in the world, the things that couldn’t reason and couldn’t help but live off fear and blood and flesh.  Though they were mutants, they were all human and they had the capacity to find a way around this.  Magneto refused to see their way of things though, paranoid by old prejudices no matter how understandable his hatred and fear were.

“We can put an end to this, Eric,” Charles spoke and it felt like the room held its breath.

“We can,” Eric agreed.  “This is an old fight, my friend.  We are not the first to have it.  Human kind has been destroying what it didn’t understand since it learned to fashion a rock into a weapon.  Humans have had their chance to be better.  They have failed.”

“And you will do what, Eric?  How will you be better than them?”

“They need a keeper and I will give them one.  I will give them a king to rule over them, a boy king,” Magneto said with a small laugh.  “There is a world that you hid from me Charles, one that has nasty creatures and powerful magic.  It has terrible enemies, but you would be surprised by the allies you can find there as well.”

Four people stepped out from the gaping hole in the wall and Sam gasped.

“You recognize them, don’t you Sam?” Magneto asked.  “Azazel said you had visions of them.  He is a formidable ally and I think a terrible foe once he realizes what I’ve done.”  Magneto smiled again.  “What is it the American’s say?  The price of doing business?”

“What do you want from us?” Sam asked.

“The demon gave you powers when you were just an infant, as he did these children.  He wanted the strongest of you to rule the world.  The blood he fed you gives you the power to control demons.  He touched your life to be certain you were raised to a hard life.  He fed you nightmares to make you bloodthirsty but obedient.”

Sam shook his head.  “The nightmares of my life were my dad’s making, not the demons.  I’m neither obedient, nor bloodthirsty.”

“You’re welcome for that,” Dean said behind him.  Sam turned quickly to see Dean struggling to sit up.  He reached for Dean and helped him.  “I got the nightmares.  I don’t think the demon meant for me to be able to protect you from them and I didn’t know that was where they came from, but now I do.”

“Dean, don’t move.”

“Sam, let me in.”

Sam looked up to see Logan moving towards them but the other man couldn’t get to Dean unless Sam dropped the wall he’d put up around them.  He nodded and Logan stepped forward, trusting Sam to lower in time.  He did, just long enough for Logan to sit down at Dean’s other side.  It wasn’t a question of standing by Sam and Dean but a necessity.  Sam stood and looked up at Magneto, drawing his attention away from what Logan was going to do.

“I don’t care what the demon thought he was doing.  I’m not going to sit on a throne and tell demons what to do.  I’m a hunter and I’ll send them all right back to hell.”

Magneto shook his head.  “He was going to make you a simple figurehead, Sam.  I will give you real power, a chance to really change things.  You can have anything you want,” his eyes flicked to Dean and Sam clenched his fists to keep from reacting.  “Anything.”

“There is nothing you can offer me that would make me help you.”

Magneto sighed.  “Ah, well.  I had hoped for a different outcome.  Azazel favored you.  With your strengths and early childhood you were a trained killer.  Charles gave you the ability to control your powers and a mind to think with that your fellows lack.  It would have been easier with you.  Kinder, I think, in the end, but if you won’t help then they will.”

Sam heard Dean’s pained gasp and knew that Logan had taken care of a dislocated shoulder but he wanted to buy his brother more time.  “They won’t be able to help you either, Magneto.”

“And why is that, Sam?”

“Look at them.  They’re barely human.  You think they’ll support your cause, that they’ll walk behind you happily?  They’re smiling because they’ve figured out where to stab the knife.”

“Eric, please stop this.  We aren’t evil.  These allies you want to make are creatures of nightmare.  You can’t think you can align with them without taking their sins too.”

Magneto frowned at Charles.  “I do what I must, Charles.”

He didn’t say anything else, but the other children stepped forward and Sam prepared himself.  He felt Dean standing at his back but he kept his eyes forward.  “Glad you could join us.”

“Couldn’t miss a party like this,” Dean answered.

It happened fast then.  The four people who’d come with Magneto moved, three to strike against their friends and one who hid behind a boulder that had once been part of the wall.  Bits of the floor were thrown at them and Sam held his shields in place to keep as much of it from hitting them as he could.  Iceman was doing the same in front of Charles and Bobby.  Bobby wasn’t a mutant but he wasn’t helpless either.  He was firing his rifle at the ones he knew he could hurt.  Sam had no idea what was happening with Magneto and Charles but they were to be at a stalemate as Charles seemed to be doing something to Mystique.

Pyro was trying to get to Iceman but he refused to let their old friend get through his barriers.  Sam had always feared that confrontation and no matter who won it, there would be no real turning back.  The room was steaming up from the interaction of the two men though and Sam figured it wasn’t long before they couldn’t see one another.

Logan growled low in his throat and darted away from Sam and Dean and Sam had just enough time to drop his shield before Logan ran into it.  He pulled it back up quickly but then Psylocke was standing in front of Sam with a smile on her face.  She held her hand up and a blade of psychic energy appeared.  Sam’s eyes widened as her knife slid easily through his shield.

At the same time, something came towards them and Dean barely ducked as a woman materialized in front of him.  She wasn’t a porter, but someone moving inhumanly fast.  Dean was able to hold his own against her, even with his injuries and Sam did his best as Psylocke began to attack him in earnest.

He couldn’t call up his own energy blade but his father had always drilled them to keep a weapon on hand and Sam had come prepared for a fight.  He had a wicked curved blade at the base of his back and he pulled it out in time to block the first attack.

He couldn’t keep track of the others but he was aware of his brother close by; the brothers always moving closer to one another to be there to help if needed.  He heard a scream at the front of the room and watched Magneto leave the fight.  A few minutes later Jean Grey had the green guy held tightly in her bonds and Cyclops was facing off against a guy who was using his own telekinesis to keep Cyclops’s beam from reaching him.

“You don’t want to fight anymore,” one of the special children said close by.  Sam turned to counter whatever he was going to throw at him, but he was stunned when the guy smiled shyly and nodded towards Psylocke.  She was staring at Andy and nodding.

“You’re right.  I don’t.”

“Go home, relax and sleep a lot for a few days, then go do something good with your life.”

She let go of her power and her blades disappeared.  Before Sam could think of anything to say she backed away from him, then ran out of the building.

“It doesn’t work on us, but mutants fall for it every time,” the man said.  “I’m Andy and I don’t want to hurt anyone.  Or rule them.”

Sam gave him a small smile.  “Sam.”

“Sammy!”

Sam turned at his brother’s scream but there was no way to stop what was happening.  Another one of the demon’s children was standing four feet in front of him with his finger on the trigger.  The bullet raced towards Sam and he was too stunned to do anything.

Dean’s rage was primal, his scream tore the air around them and the bullet that speed towards Sam stopped mid-air.  Dean slammed his fist into the guys face before he could do more than stare at the stopped bullet.  He went down in a heap and Dean went with him, fist connected wherever he could.

Logan was the one that pulled Dean off the guy and it was only then that Sam realized the fight was over.  Toad,  Callisto and the guy that had tried to shoot Sam were asleep or unconscious.  The guy, Andy, was standing in front of Charles and Sam could feel Charles’s mind as he read Andy’s.  He couldn’t look into the other man’s brain the way the professor could but he was happy enough with the way the professor smiled at the man when he was done.

Magneto was gone and most of his people with him.  One of the special children was lying under the boulder Andy had been hiding under earlier and Sam saw the way Jean’s eyes drifted every so often to the body, trying to come to terms with the death she’d delivered.

When Sam looked over at his brother, Dean just smiled.  Sam couldn’t do what he wanted, but instead he reached out for his brother and wrapped him in a tight embrace.  Dean groaned slightly in pain but he didn’t let Sam pull away.

“We need to get out of here,” Iceman broke the silence.   “Magneto might come back with more people.”

“I think Eric is going to take his time and lick his wounds.  His plans have gone awry today and he will need to for new ones.  We should get Dean to the hospital though.”

Sam knew his brother wanted to protest but Dean just hugged him a little tighter before letting go.  Dean might want to argue until he was blue in the face but no one naysaid the professor for long and Dean had learned when to push and when to get his ass in the car so they could take care of him.

“Let’s get out of here then.  Quicker we get there the quicker I can get home.”

 

  
Dean stared out the window of his bedroom and sighed softly.  He wanted to be outside with the others, with his brother who was catching up with some of the younger students he’d left behind when he went to Stanford.  With Bobby and the new guy Andy who was proving to be a pretty good kid.  Hell, he’d even sit with Jean and Scott and listen to their lecture about safety if it meant getting out of his bed.  He was stuck inside though, bed rest , with Logan as a nursemaid.

“Logan, would you give us a minute?”

Dean looked up as Charles came rolling into the room.  Logan looked Dean over a second before nodding to the professor.  As much as Dean liked Logan, he was grateful from the reprieve from his company.  He knew what Charles was there for and he didn’t want to have this conversation with Logan.  Whatever he knew, Dean didn’t want to confirm it.

Charles, however, was a different matter entirely.  In fact, Dean was counting on the man to make sure Sam was okay.    If anything ever happened to Dean, if he did anything to hurt Sam and had to walk away, he knew the professor would see to it that Sam was okay.

“You won’t hurt him, Dean,” the professor said.

Dean sighed.  “I could.  I could hurt him worse than anyone else.  You know we fought this, Professor.”

“I do, Dean.  I don’t necessarily condone this relationship, but I’m not against it either.”

“What?”

“The life you and Sam have lived, the things you’ve suffered through together and apart, they aren’t for me to judge.  When you first came here it wouldn’t have been fair to either of you to allow this.  When Sam was leaving for college it would have been too painful.  You have both come to a new turning point in your lives though and if you chose to walk that path together in this fashion then I will do my best to be certain you do so on equal terms.”

“Thank you.”

Charles nodded.  “How are you feeling?”

“Stir crazy,” Dean admitted.  “Something is still coming.  Magneto is still out there and so is Azazel.  We won a battle but we didn’t win the war yet.”

Charles nodded.  “I know.  We have a little time to lick our wounds Dean, but the worst is yet to come.  Humans are pressing harder than ever to label us and segregate us and Magneto will continue to respond to that threat.  We have to be ready when the time comes.”

“And until then?”

Charles smiled.  “Until then Dean, we prepare.  I think it’s time we taught our students more pragmatic uses for their abilities.  Will you and Sam be able to train them?”

“We’ll do whatever you need.”

“I know you will.  We have a little time to prepare.  When the battle comes here, we will be ready.  This first … Winchester class … will allow our students to fight alongside us.  If the humans or Magneto come, let them be prepared.”

 

 

  
When Sam walked into Dean’s room an hour later he found Dean fully dressed with his duffle on the bed.  His guns were spread out in front of him, freshly cleaned, as he worked a knife down the whet stone.  
“Dean?”

“Charles wants us to start training the students how to fight.  He’s calling it the Winchester Class,” Dean said with a smirk.  He was still slightly reeling at the way Charles was standing by them with the choices they’d made but he ignored those thoughts as he looked up at Sam.

“Winchester class?” he shook his head.  “Never thought I’d be an instructor here.”

“You don’t have to do this, Sam.  You can head back to Stanford, make a life there again.”

Sam sighed as he moved over to the bed.  He leaned close and kissed Dean softly and there was a sense of reverence in his touch that took Dean’s breath away.

“I think I like the idea of teaching the Winchester class.”

“Yeah?  You don’t mind living like this, the school and hunting?”

Sam shook his head and smiled at Dean.  “I think, no matter what he might think about our relationship, that Dad would have been proud of us doing this. Saving people.  Hunting things.  The family business.  Only now, we get to teach other people to do it too.  He’d have approved.”

Dean nodded.  “Yeah, he might have.  He’d have been a hell of a drill sergeant here.”

Sam took one of Dean’s knives and his extra stone and started working it with the same precision that Dean did.  “This thing isn’t over.  What Magneto was talking about.  Your powers are growing and so are mine.  When the one died, I felt myself get stronger.  Whatever the demon did to us, it’s still changing us.”

“I’m okay with that, Sammy.  You and me, we’ll take this head on like we do everything else.”

“You and me?”

“Only way I know how to do it,” Dean admitted.

Sam smiled warmly at him and every bit of love and affection that ran between them showed in his eyes.  “I think this Winchester class just might be the thing then.”

Dean nodded.  “Saving people.  Hunting things.  Keeping the world safe for human and mutant kind.”

The new Winchester family business.

 

**Author's Note:**

> huge thank you to my amazing artist [](http://2blueshoes.livejournal.com/profile)[2blueshoes](http://2blueshoes.livejournal.com/) who did some many awesome things for this :P Also to the mods of the [](http://sncross-bigbang.livejournal.com/profile)[sncross_bigbang](http://sncross-bigbang.livejournal.com/) for running one of my favorite challenges in the SPN fandom :P Everyone was really patient with me when I screwed up my first post then got sick before I could submit it again! I took a lot of liberties with the X-men and SPN timeline, but I hope the story makes up for it :P Enjoy!


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